Badosa defeated Rybakina in the round of 16 at the cost of great effort

The Catalan Paula Badosathird player in the world and second seeded in WTA Stuttgart, surpassed the Kazakh at the cost of an impressive effort Elena Rybakina by 6-2, 4-6 and 7-6 (4) in round of 16in a match more complex than expected after the first set that promised a less rigorous result.

His rival in the quarterfinals will come from the clash between Tunisian Ons Jabeur and Russian Daria Kasatkina.

The first round was a walk for Badosa, aggressive and unstoppable in his service and patient in the rally, until he found space for his parallels, among others. He signed 6-2 in 31 minutes.

The Spaniard gave up his serve twice at the start of the second round — after his rival, a quarterfinalist this year at Indian Wells, was not in the locker room — and the panorama changed completely.

Consecutive mistakes put him 4-0 behind and on the challenge of overcoming the big loss. He did the hardest thing: open a crack in his opponent’s stiffness and call 4-4. But he lost his next serve blank and with it the set escaped him.

Both players showed two different faces in the first sets and it remains to be seen which of them they will face in the final.

They struggled to let go of their arm and maintain their confidence beyond a few balls. Irregular bouncing on the runway did not make the task easier.

After an intense struggle in the fourth game where he got the Kazakh serve (3-1), Badosa made another mistake and tied the set at 4-4. The balance was maintained until it led to the ‘tie-break’ that Badosa always led. After 6-2 he struggled to score the final point, coming to 7-4.

The first favorite tournament was the Polish Iga Swiatekworld number one, who comfortably eliminated Belgian Eva Lys in the round of 16 by 6-1 and 6-1.