Paula Badosa confirmed indicators of her former top-five kind throughout a 6-2, 6-3 victory over 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva within the first spherical of the Italian Open on Tuesday.
Badosa was ranked as excessive as No. 2 earlier than she missed the second half of final yr as a result of a again damage that has additionally slowed her this season. She’s now No. 126.
Badosa jumped out to a 5-1 lead within the first set earlier than a 45-minute rain delay after which picked up the place she left off towards the Fortieth-ranked Andreeva, who was the WTA tour’s newcomer of the yr in 2023.
Badosa reached the quarterfinals in Rome final yr however that turned out to be her penultimate match of the season.
It was Badosa’s first win since beating Simona Halep on the Miami Open final month in Halep’s return from a doping ban. It additionally ended Badosa’s six-match dropping streak towards gamers ranked within the high 40 that had stretched again to Rome final yr.
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Additionally on the pink clay on the Foro Italico, Shelby Rogers routed Italian wild-card entry Lisa Pigato 6-1, 6-0.
The one different matches scheduled on the opening day featured 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez towards Ana Bogdan and Yulia Putintseva towards Martina Trevisan.
The lads’s match begins on Wednesday with Novak Djokovic as the highest seed and 10-time champion Rafael Nadal additionally entered. However Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz each withdrew as a result of accidents.