Disaster of rival Iga ¦wiątek. She was eliminated in the first round of the tournament in Doha

At the beginning of last month, Paula Badosa (20th WTA) was in the 11th position in the WTA ranking and many saw her among the favorites to win the Australian Open Grand Slam. The injury, however, sidelined her for more than a month. Not only did she miss the first Grand Slam in 2023, but the decline in the form of the Spanish player is also visible. The competition in Doha demonstrated this perfectly.

Paula Badosa was eliminated in the 1st round of the WTA tournament in Doha. Spain is having a bad time

On Tuesday, February 14, Badosa faced Beatriz Haddad Maia (12th WTA) in the first round of the Doha tournament. The 25-year-old got off to a good start. In the fifth game of the first set, however, she made too many mistakes and was broken. She managed to make up for the losses at the end of the set, when both players had trouble maintaining their own serve. The competition went to a tie-break. Badosa even had a set ball on her serve in it, but eventually lost it to six.

The second set started poorly for Badosa. Already in the first game, she was broken on her own serve. It is true that a moment later she made up for the losses, but it was already clear that it would be really difficult to win. Ultimately, the match ended with the score 0:2, and the Brazilian advanced to the next round, where she will face Daria Kasatkina (6th WTA).

Iga ¦wiątek (1st WTA) is on the opposite side of the ladder, so the tennis players can meet each other only in the final. On Wednesday, February 15, the Polish woman will play in the 1/8 finals with Danielle Collins (42nd WTA).

This is an exceptionally difficult period for Badosa. The 25-year-old was in second place in the ranking behind Iga Świątek in April last year, and was fourth until October. Her last victorious tournament took place in January 2022 in Sydney, where she defeated Barbora Krejcikova 2:1 in the final.