By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, March 17, 2022
Paula Badosa swept Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-2 rolling into her second straight Indian Wells semifinal and raising her record to 10-0 at the BNP Paribas Open.
Photo credit: Getty
Paula Badosa was born in New York City, grew up in Spain and continues to shine brightly in the desert.
Exuding positive energy, excellent court coverage and an effective serve, Badosa swept Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-2 rolling into her second straight Indian Wells semifinal and raising her record to a perfect 10-0 at the BNP Paribas Open.
More: Sakkari Repels Rybakina
Winless in three career meetings with Kudermetova, who looked a bit depleted from her near three-hour victory over Marketa Vondrousova, Badosa was determined to get off to a fast start in both sets and did exactly that.
“I’m very happy about today; I never won against her,” Badosa told Andrew Krasny afterward. “I played her here as well three years ago and I lost like 6-2, 6-2 [6-3, 6-2 in the 2019 qualifying] so imagine how happy I am.
"As I always say every day I think it’s the court that does magic with me.”
The magic pre-dates the Spaniard's Indian Wells success.
Badosa concluded the 2020 season ranked No. 70 and had never beaten a Top 20 player until last April. On Charleston’s Har-Tru, Badosa toppled 12th-ranked Belinda Bencic and world No. 1 Ash Barty before the then 38th-ranked Kudermetova beat her 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals and went on to take the title.
In today’s rematch, Badosa served 65 percent, pumped five aces, won 13 of 19 second-serve points and denied the only break point she faced serving out the first set.
“I think I played against her and I always was making mistakes so today I didn’t want to do it for the fourth time in a row,” Badosa said. “So I started to serve very well—I think that was the key—and to stay very aggressive and not let her move me a lot. And when she’s aggressive just try to get a lot of balls back.”
The reigning BNP Paribas Open champion has not surrendered a set in four wins this week setting up a semifinal showdown with Maria Sakkari.
Earlier, Sakkari ran through 12 of the last 17 games defeating Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-4 to secure a spot in her first Indian Wells semifinal. If the Greek takes the title she’s projected to rise to world No. 2.
“Maria is an amazing player and I’m really happy for her and for her career,” Badosa said. “ I think tomorrow is going to be a match against two fighting spirits and I think that’s really nice. I really respect her and I hope tomorrow we can do a really good match.”
Earlier, Sakkari ran through 12 of the last 17 games defeating Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-4 to secure a spot in her first Indian Wells semifinal.
Badosa plays with more spin on all of her shots which gave her greater access to angles than the flatter-hitting Kudermetova today. Curling crosscourt shots with sharper angles, Badosa was effective opening the court for finishing strikes.
Hammering a diagonal forehand winner, Badosa broke first for 3-1 after 14 minutes of play. Dialed in on her forehand wing early, Badosa cracked a crosscourt forehand confirming the break at love.
The Spaniard’s serve-forehand strikes helped her cruise through her service games until the final game. The reigning champion squandered a 40-love lead then staved off a break point serving out the 38-minute opener.
Badosa played a much cleaner set committing just three unforced errors—13 fewer than the Charleston champion—in that first set.
Kudermetova took a near eight-and-a-half-minute medical timeout after the opening set.
The 24th-ranked Russian edged Marketa Vondrousova in a two hour, 52-minute fourth-round win—her longest match of the season—and looked to be feeling strain in her legs. When she returned to action, Badosa greeted Kudermetova with corner-to-corner drives breaking again to start the second set.
The world No. 24 fought hard to hang onto serve in the fifth game, but Badosa banged a forehand inside the line then drew an error breaking for 4-1.
Serving for her second straight Indian Wells semifinal, Badosa blitzed a forehand pass for 30-15. On her first match point, Badosa drew an errant return roaring into the semifinals with shout—and without surrendering a set.