After an injury-marred 2023, Paula Badosa hopes this week she’s spent in the District will be the beginning of her tennis redemption story.
The Spaniard returned to her title-winning ways at the D.C. Open, defeating Czechia’s Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 4-6, 2-3, after two weather delays Sunday for her first WTA 500-level title.
“I think it’s maybe the most special moment, especially because I went through a lot, you know?,” Badosa said. “A lot of people put me down…I had to fight through that and I had to keep believing on myself.”
A former world No. 2, Badosa made the most of her D.C. opportunity, becoming the first woman to win this tournament on a wild-card entry. She improved to 3-0 all-time against Bouzkova and remains undefeated in all tour-level singles finals that she’s reached, now 4-0.
It’s not the biggest title of the 26-year-old’s career — the 2021 Masters event at Indian Wells takes that nod — but Washington may hold just as much significance.
“I think this moment for me, it’s one of the most special ones in my career. Of course, Indian Wells will always be there, but it’s a different situation,” Badosa said. “I think here I fought a lot, myself and my thoughts. I think that’s one of the biggest wins of my career.”
A stress fracture in her back last year has occasionally lingered into 2024, and Badosa had spoken all week about coveting a return to the form that made her one of the world’s best players just two years ago.
“Yeah, one year ago I waonin the couch, so it’s a big difference now,” Badosa joked. “Now, I’m an athlete again.”
She put together that consistency all week in the District, beating two former Grand Slam champions, Sofia Kenin and Emma Raducanu, and advancing past former D.C. champion and three-seed Liudmila Samsonova en route to the final.
“Finally, this gave me a lot of confidence also to win [over] these kind of players and these kind of battles, to win a title in these conditions, because I never thought I was going to play good on this hard court,” Badosa said.
“This proved me wrong. I’m looking forward for the next and of course, this gives me a lot of confidence for the next challenges.”
Tied 1-1 in the second set, play was stopped for 45 minutes due to a lightning risk in the area, though storms stayed to the north of the FitzGerald Tennis Center and conditions remained sunny and dry until play resumed. The pause threw Badosa for a loop.
“I came off of the court crying so much. Really, I couldn’t stop crying,” she said. “My team didn’t know what to do because I just cried non-stop. I tried to calm down. I think that also helped me a bit to release my emotions because I was really, really nervous. Sometimes I want it so much that I can’t control myself.”
It was the fifth day of the week that the tournament was delayed for weather-related issues.
Back on court, Bouzkova faced three break points at 2-all, but endured a 20-plus shot rally on the first — won on a drop shot at the net that she was afraid was going out, yet clipped the line — and saved the next two for a 4-3 lead.
Badosa showed slight signs of cracking in the next game, saving two break points of her own and needing two deuces to level the match at 4. But Bouzkova would finally seize the opening on Badosa’s next serve.
Badosa fended off a set point with an ace, but Bouzkova earned another, getting her racket on a 121 mph serve before Badosa eventually clipped the net with a return that went wide. To Bouzkova went the second set, 6-4, leveling the match before the second weather delay, this time for an actual light shower.
“I think it was just connecting that I was feeling better with my own game, just much more in the rhythm than at the start,” Bouzkova said. “At the start, I wasn’t feeling like I can do that many things. But then eventually I think the first break, the first delay, helped me to kind of regroup and just really start fresh again when we got back on the court.”
When play resumed more than a half-hour later, it was as if the two decided to play the first set again. And Badosa was in a better headspace.
“I relaxed a bit, I calmed down. I changed [clothes],” she said. “I’m like, ’Paula, it’s a set, just give everything you can,’ try to play your game like at the beginning of the match that I think I started really well on that and I was quite calm. It worked pretty well.”
Once again, they traded breaks of serve, as they did in the first, to open the final stanza. Badosa was the first to take the lead and break for a 3-2 advantage, all that she would need to hold serve the rest of the way to win the title.
“I think what I learned for me is that I’m stronger than what I thought,” Badosa said, “and that if I believe and I go for it, good things come, like a title.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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