Badosa won, and the Sabados fight will take place at Roland Garros.

Paula Badosa (No. 139 in the WTA rankings) gained momentum at Roland Garros turn around and win another tough three-set battle. In the second round beat Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (39th place) 4-6, 6-1 and 7-5 after two hours on the court. Next time she will have to meet one of her great friends and candidate for the title in Paris, Arina Sabalenka (2nd place).

A year ago, the Spanish tennis player missed Roland Garros due to a fractured vertebra. Little by little, with her characteristic tenacity, she built up the territory, confidence and hours on the court to once again face a competitive version of the player the world knew years ago when she was world number two and world tennis champion. Indian Wells.

On this occasion, she reaches the third round in Paris, fighting Katie Boulter (4-6, 7-5, 6-4) and Yulia Putintseva (4-6, 6-1 and 7-5). The merits of these battles will find their reward in the following case. There, in search of the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since Wimbledon 2022, she will face one of her best friends from the tour: Aryna Sabalenka.

The duo, dubbed by fans as “Saturday”, met each other six times. He simultaneously Sabalenka leads the score 4-2, and the peculiarity is that they won these victories in a row. However, the first two went to the Spaniards.

The last time they met, a few weeks ago in Stuttgart, Badosa survived the match, stretching out the match 6-7 (4) to 6-4 before retiring in tears due to physical ailment when the deciding set was tied 3-3. Will he now be able, with growing confidence, to solve what he tried to do in Germany?

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