MIAMI: World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Charleston WTA quarter-finals on Friday, beaten in straight sets by 71st-ranked Spaniard Paula Badosa.
Badosa fired seven aces — three more than Barty — and saved 12 of 14 break points she faced on the way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
It’s the biggest win of Badosa’s career, the Spaniard having notched her first top-20 victory when she beat fifth-seeded Belinda Bencic in the 2nd round.
“I’m still a little bit shocked,” Badosa admitted in a post-match TV interview, adding that when Barty’s final forehand reeled out of court “I was, like, ‘What just happened?’
“But I’m quite happy with my match, the way that I managed my nerves. It was quite important because sometimes these matches are tough to close.”
Serving for the opening set, Badosa was down 0-40 but won five straight points on the way to sealing it with an overhead winner.
They traded breaks in the first two games of the second set, Badosa gaining the advantage again with a break for 4-3 as she won the final four games of the match.
In the semi-finals Badosa will face either American Sloane Sephens or Russian Veronika Kudermetova, who met in the last quarter-final later Friday.
Badosa, a former French Open junior champion, is the lowest-ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019.
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