By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday May 16, 2023
Paula Badosa continues to raise her game on the clay in 2023.
photo Source: TTV
25-year-old Paula Badosa has always made hay on the clay. Blessed with some of the heaviest groundstrokes in the women’s game, the Spaniard is a physical force when she’s healthy and confident, and it appears that she is both of those things at the moment.
Ranked 32 spots lower than she was last year at Rome, the World No.35 is in the process of rebuilding her ranking. Now 11-3 on the clay in 2023 after her 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 victory over Karolina Muchova, should we consider the former World No. 2 a threat to go deep at Roland-Garros?
After four wins in Rome, including one over No.4 seed Ons Jabeur, Badosa’s next battle will tell us a lot about her current form. Red-hot Jelena Ostapenko will be next, and the Spaniard holds a 2-1 lifetime edge against the Latvian, including a win in their only meeting on clay, at Roland-Garros in 2020.
Ostapenko may be the former champion in Paris, but it is Badosa who has carved out a more successful record on the surface, winning 47 and losing just 19. It should be a great test of form for both players, as each appears to be playing scorching tennis at the moment.
It has been a solid year for Badosa, despite dropping out of the Top 30 for the first time since Wimbledon 2021. She is 17-7 overall and has won three of her last five against the Top 20.
Ostapenko, meanwhile, has handed bagel sets to Barb ora Krejcikova and Daria Kasatkina this week.
Wednesday’s tilt (second match on Court Centrale, not before 3PM local time) promises to be a battle royale, with all-important confidence part of the package for the eventual winner.