Badosa died on the beach before his friend Sabalenka

The best Paula Badosa of the year was not enough to enter the semifinals of the Stuttgart tournament. The Catalan player is showing his best tennis in many months and this Friday he is close to getting a prestigious victory against his best friend Aryna Sabalenka, who claimed the final victory by 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for two and a half hours.

The Belarusian, number 2 in the world, started by holding her serve without too much trouble but it was immediately clear that it wasn’t going to be her day. Too erratic from the back track, he served his next serve in the third game, a tear that he couldn’t recover from and that made him deliver the first set 6-4.

Badosa followed him. Backed by a good serve and showing no cracks either forehand or backhand, The Catalan started the second in the best possible way, with another break.

That advantage seemed to tip the game in his favor, but the current Australian Open champion has not said his last word. After going 0-30 with 4-2, Sabalenka started to chain winners and shook the Spanish player’s dominance.

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Four straight games allowed him to turn the score around and force a close second set 6-4, a dynamic that continued at the start of the decisive sleeve.

An early break allowed the Belarusian to reach 2-0 on the scoreboard, an advantage that the Girona woman was able to counter with a breathtaking fifth game (3-2).

The ensuing 3-3 gave way to the moment of truth, with Sabalenka showing more poise to tip the balance in their favor and earn a pass to the penultimate round, where they will face the winner of the duel between Caroline Garcia and Anastasia Potapova.