Spain’s Paula Badosa celebrates after winning against Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova at the end of their women’s singles fourth round tennis match on Day 8 of The Roland Garros 2021 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 6, 2021. (Photo by MARTIN BUREAU / AFP)
PARIS – Paula Badosa reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal when she beat former finalist Marketa Vondrousova 6-4 3-6 6-2, with her aggressive baseline play outclassing the Czech 20th seed on Court Suzanne Lenglen on Sunday.
The players traded breaks in the opening stages and were level at 4-4 when Badosa broke again before keeping her nerve to save two break points in the final game to seal the opening set.
While Badosa thrived on the longer rallies, Vondrousova looked to finish points quickly and the Czech claimed the crucial break to go up 4-2 before serving out the second set to take it into a decider.
Vondrousova’s fatigue was in stark contrast to the energy of Badosa, who broke twice to take a 4-1 lead in the final set.
The Spaniard broke a third time in the final game, when Vondrousova’s return on her second match point went long, to set up a quarter-final clash with unseeded Slovenian Tamara Zidansek.