Badosa gets her Madrid Open campaign underway with dominant win over Kudermetova

Paula Badosa shook off a wobbly first set against Veronika Kudermetova to score a strong win over the Russian 6-3 6-0.

The first set opened slowly for Badosa who had to save an early break point but when she finally did she looked a bit more comfortable. The Russian was coming off of a strong showing in Istanbul but the finals loss seemed to still be on her mind because at this she was not focused enough. She had 5 break points overall in the opening set but used neither.

To be fair, Badosa served really well in crucial moments and in Madrid that always helps. The Spaniard needed only one break point to win the opening set and that break literally unleashed her full potential. Kudermetova played even worse in the 2nd set as the Spaniard completely took over. She hit 92 % of her first serves in the 2nd without dropping a single point.

Overall it finished with a bagel and it's a great start for Badosa who is the top-ranked player at this event after Swiatek dropped out. She made her breakthrough last year in Madrid reaching the semifinals and she admitted to feeling a lot of pressure this year. So far so good.