Paula Badosa is through to her first semifinal of the year. The former World No.2 reached the final four in her DC debut, outlasting 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 45 minutes.
“It means a lot, today especially because it was a tough one and it went my way,” Badosa said after reaching her first semi in 19 months.
“I really felt I needed a win like this. I'm happy [to reach] the semifinals once again after a long time and a long stop for me. I'm happy that lately I'm playing a lot of matches, I'm being competitive, and slowly getting back to the top.”
Badosa missed the final six months of the 2023 season but says she is finally starting to find her old form. Beginning with a fourth-round appearance in Rome in May, Badossa has successfully strung together deep runs at multiple tournaments on multiple surfaces.
Badosa has now won 13 of her last 17 matches but the DC wild card is hardly satisfied.
“I'm this kind of player that I'm not happy with quarterfinals, semifinals,” she said. “It's something that I'm dealing with with my coach. He's like, ‘Be proud of your yourself. You're doing a great effort after all.’ I'm like, ‘No, until I do a big result, I'm not going to be happy.’ But I'm trying. I'm trying to value every match. I think I have to do that after the year. It's my year of a comeback.”
On Friday, Badosa came back after dropping the first set and overcame an early break in the third set. Badosa also saved three break points while serving at 3-3, 0-40 in the third stanza.
The 26-year-old making her DC debut was pleased with her take-charge approach against Raducanu.
“I'm trying to add some stuff in my game, being a little bit more aggressive, going a little bit more for it,” Badosa said after firing 11 aces and 45 winners. “I'm proud of that because maybe the matches I lost lately was because I didn't go for it. Today I did it and it worked. I’m proud of that.”
Badosa will next face American Caroline Dolehide in the semifinals. Dolehide overcame a 2-5 first-set deficit and rallied to beat American qualifier Amanda Anisimova 7-6(5), 6-1 to reach her second career semifinal and her first in 2024.
“Winning here feels amazing,” said Dolehide, a finalist in Guadalajara in 2023. “It’s Washington DC. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything this big on American soil, ever. So, it feels really good.”
Originally scheduled to compete in the qualifying draw in Toronto this weekend, Dolehide is happy to instead stick around DC with more at stake.
“That’s a good problem to have,” she said of having to pull out of Toronto qualies.
The opportunity is also a longtime coming for the 25-year-old Chicago native, who cracked the top-100 for the first time last fall and entered this week as the World No.49.
“It’s taken time,” she said. “Everybody’s journey is different. You have to appreciate the process and that’s what I’ve done. You have to keep your head down and be resilient and keep going and enjoy the process. Everyone’s journey is different and mine is just getting started from what it feels like and that’s exciting. “
