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Badosa. Reuters
Badosa Overcomes Initial Hurdle

Badosa Overcomes Initial Hurdle

Spanish Players Achieve Full Success on Opening Day with Victories from Badosa, Bouzas, and Bucsa

Enric Gardiner

Domingo, 12 de enero 2025, 13:50

Practically a perfect day for Spanish tennis in Melbourne. Paula Badosa, Jessica Bouzas, Pedro Martínez, and Cristina Bucsa all advanced in their Australian Open debuts, with Jaume Munar being the only Spanish player to fall, losing in a five-set battle against Casper Ruud, the sixth seed.

The Mallorcan came close to a remarkable victory against the Norwegian (6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1) but succumbed after three and a half hours. A win against Ruud would have been the icing on the cake for Munar's strong start to the season, having recently reached the semi-finals in Hong Kong, defeating Alejandro Davidovich and Lorenzo Musetti along the way.

Despite Munar's exit, the first day of competition was excellent for the Spaniards, led by Paula Badosa, who overcame a tough opening match against China's Xinyu Wang, winning 6-3, 7-6 (5). Although Badosa is the twelfth favourite for the title according to the rankings, she was unlucky in the draw, facing Wang, ranked 37th in the world, who was in good form after a series of victories in Adelaide.

This was evident in the difficulty of the match for Badosa, who struggled to find her rhythm, losing serve a couple of times, but capitalised on her opponent's forty unforced errors and seized her break opportunities. She won all three break points she had and remained composed at the end of the second set, where, after serving for the match at 5-4, she lost serve and headed into a tiebreak where she started 0-3 down. The Spaniard closed the first round with a 7-2 run and will have an extra day of rest compared to her next opponent, the winner of the match between Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez and Australia's Taila Gibson.

Meanwhile, Jessica Bouzas won in Australia for the third consecutive Grand Slam. The player from Pontevedra defeated Sonay Kartal 6-1, 7-6 (5) and aims to replicate her third-round appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open. With this victory, Bouzas is also on the verge of breaking into the WTA top 50 for the first time in her career. However, it won't be easy, as she will face the defending champion and world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, who lost only five games in her debut against Sloane Stephens.

Cristina Bucsa also advanced to the next round, convincingly defeating France's Chloe Paquet, who hasn't won a match since last October (6-2, 6-3). The Spaniard, who needs a good result to break back into the world's top 100, will face Leylah Fernández, the thirtieth seed, in the second round.

To conclude the day, Pedro Martínez had a straightforward match against Italy's Luciano Darderi, who retired midway through the second set with Martínez leading 6-3, 4-1. The Valencian will face the challenge of meeting Alexander Zverev, the world number two and last year's semi-finalist, who secured a triple 6-4 victory in his tournament debut against Lucas Pouille.

In the early hours of Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz will debut in Melbourne against Alexander Shevchenko, Davidovich will face Juncheng Shang, Roberto Carballés will play against Alejandro Tabilo, and Martín Landaluce will meet James McCabee.

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todoalicante Badosa Overcomes Initial Hurdle