Badosa guts out win, faces Filipino teen who made history
03.23.25
Alexandra Eala
By Harvey Fialkov
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – On a glorious, cloudy but comfortable Sunday morning out on Court 1 at the prestigious Miami Open Masters 1000 presented by Itaú, Paula Badosa was rolling in her third-round match against rising Danish star Clara Tauson.
Then while serving a double-fault the 10th-seeded Spaniard felt a sharp pain in her lower back, a pain she has felt before and one that kept her off the tour for six months following a second-round retirement at Wimbledon in 2023.
A distraught Badosa shed a few tears and immediately called for a trainer at 6-3, 1-1, 15-40, which annoyed the 20th-seeded Tauson, wondering if she was allowed to take a medical in the middle of a game.
The treatment, which included massage, adjustments on changeovers and painkillers, clearly helped. While Badosa’s service speed dropped from 117 to 104 mph and her movement was limited, her firepower off the ground wasn’t affected as she gutted out a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over the powerful Tauson.
“The first set I’m like this is what I want to do. This is me right here,’’ said Badosa, 27, who won 87 percent of her first serves and saved all seven break points against her. “I was not only in a lot of pain, but I was a little bit surprised that it was happening again.”
It doesn’t help Badosa that her sweet 16 match is on late Monday afternoon with no day off, but she might’ve received a break with the historic 6-4, 6-2 upset of fifth-seeded Australian Open champion Madison Keys by wild-card Filipino, 19-year-old Alexandra Eala on the Grandstand.
Eala, who has trained at Rafael Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca since she was 13, is the first Filipino to defeat a Top 10 player since 1990; the first from her country to defeat a Grand Slam champion (actually her second after downing Jelena Ostapenko on Friday); and the first Filipino to reach a Masters 1000 round of 16.
The 140th-ranked Eala is good friends with fellow Nadal student and 182nd-ranked wild card Coleman Wong, 20, who notched his own historic win for Hong Kong players on Saturday when he stunned 13th seed Ben Shelton. The two received congratulatory tweets from Nadal.
Today was Eala’s turn: “Congratulations Alex! What a great win for you and the Philippine [flag]!”
“Growing up, it was tough,’’ said Eala, who had never won a match in a Masters event or Grand Slam until this week. “You didn’t have anyone where you’re from to pave the way. I hope this takes the Philippines to the next step.”
According to Wikipedia the highest-ranked Filipino woman was Maricris Gentz, who was 284th in 1999.
Eala, a southpaw, was able to absorb Key’s powerful serves and groundstrokes, forcing her to hit three winners just to win a point.
“My game plan was to stick with what I know and to run,’’ she said. “I knew that she was a great player and a big hitter. I had to keep my legs on and take the opportunities I could find.”
Eala took a medical timeout at 4-3 of the first set to get her lower left leg taped but said in the post-match press conference that she’s good to go.
That’s believable after another wild forehand from Keys on match point, Eala screamed, jumped around the court like the energizer bunny and tapped her heart. She hugged her coach David Gomez, while waving to several compatriots waving the Filipino flag.
“I knew I had to get out of the country eventually to improve,’’ Eala said. “I think the combination of everything that I’ve been through since I started tennis is what has led to this moment and what has led to me having all these opportunities.”
Keys, 30, in the midst of the best run of her career, carried a 19-2 record into Miami, but she was coming off a blowout 6-0, 6-1 semifinal loss at Indian Wells to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka – who she had beaten in the Aussie final.
“I don’t think I played great, and she played really well,’’ said Keys, who’s No. 5 on the PIF WTA Finals ranking. “My serve wasn’t there today, and I was a little bit flat and when you’re playing someone who makes a ton of balls back and absorbs really well that’s not really the keys to success.”
Keys won a paltry 46 percent of first-serve points, compared to 59 percent for the 5-foot-9, left-handed counter puncher.
Joining Keys in the upset circle was 17-year-old Russian phenom Mirra Andreeva, who saw her 13-match winning streak snapped by 17th-ranked American Amanda Anisimova, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3 late Saturday.
Andreeva, the 11th seed but ranked sixth after winning consecutive Masters 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, was off from the start. After the third game of the match, Andreeva told the chair umpire that she needed a physio and doctor because she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
After a medical timeout, the teen continued but seemed out of sorts. Take nothing away from Anisimova, who’s still riding the tidal wave of her most significant title of her career at Doha (1000) last month.
Anisimova, 23, rode an early break in the third set and was up 3-1, 40-40 when she took a medical timeout for what appeared to be a blister. Andreeva, who was serving, complained to the chair umpire, suggesting it was gamesmanship.
“The skin broke on my finger so I couldn’t really hold the racket,’’ Anisimova said. “When you get an acute injury, you’re allowed to take a timeout.”
Andreeva held anyway but was unable to break Anisimova’s serve (4-of-16 on break points) in the third set, setting up match point which Anisimova earned on a swinging volley. The South Miami resident let out a huge scream of joy.
“[Dubai] gave me a lot of confidence and was a very special win and week for me,’’ she said. “I tried to hold that in the back of my mind going in.”
At one point, Anisimova, whose mother is Russian, was in Andreeva’s shoes as the teen prodigy after winning a WTA title in Bogota and reaching the semis at Roland Garros at just 17.
“Everyone has their own timeline. I don’t think my career is the same as hers,’’ she said. “She’s doing amazing, having a great year. At 17, she’s had a great run this year and definitely not an easy opponent to play.”
Anisimova will play unseeded Brit star Emma Raducanu, who notched her first three-match winning streak of the year with a 6-1, 3-0 victory over three-time University of Florida All-American, McCartney Kessler, who retired with a lower-back injury.
Raducanu, 22, won their only meeting earlier this year, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round of the Australian Open.
Badosa managed to force a tiebreaker which sparked the mostly Latin crowd to chant, “Paula-Paula,” at the start. Then after Tauson, who had also experienced a prolonged absence from the tour with a back injury in 2022, quickly committed four unforced errors which terminated in a Danish racket spike and followed by a serenade of the soccer chant, ‘Ole, Ole…’ from the pro-Badosa fans.
Tauson saved one match point at 2-6, but Badosa followed her serve with a rocket backhand down the line and fell flat on her sore back as if she won a Grand Slam. She wiped some happy tears away and asked the chair umpire if she could get someone to carry her bags to the locker room.
“It was emotional because it really hurt badly and I didn’t know if I would be able to finish,’’ Badosa said. “I was happy to overcome an injury but will need treatment to see if I can play the next match [on Monday].”
It was a great day for Ukrainian tennis, as 30-year-old mother Elina Svitolina took out 15th-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova, a finalist at the 2023 Aussie Open, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to a match with second-seeded Iga Swiatek Monday night.
Swiatek, the five-time Grand Slam champion, who has yet to reach a final this year, dispatched Belgian Elise Mertens, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Svitolina is 1-2 against the 23-year-old Pole, but the win came in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Fellow Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk coasted to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Russian Anna Blinkova and will next play 4th-seed Jessica Pegula, who scraped past Russian Anna Kalinskaya, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (2). However, Pegula, who lives in Boca Raton, pulled out of doubles Sunday night with a right thigh injury.
