Paula Badosa takes down Elena Rybakina in Stuttgart

Paula Badosa was rolling early against Rybakina but a lapse in focus forced her to play three sets and she was able to get it down 6-2 4-6 7-6(4).

The first singles match of the event for Paula Badosa got here on day four of the event as the Spaniard already played one match in the doubles in the event. That familiarity with the courts played a part in her early success in this match against Elena Rybakina who looked all sorts of lost in this match early. Badosa was able to race to a 6-2 finish in the first set thanks to that lack of rhythm for Rybakina.

Rybakina was simply too vulnerable on her 2nd serve and Badosa won 9 of 12 of those points in the quick set. Things changed quite a bit in the 2nd set as Rybakina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after taking an all-out aggressive approach in the match. That lead became a 4-0 lead it looked very good for her.

She complicated things quite a bit by taking her game too far a bit and Badosa was able to exploit those mistakes and battle back to 4-4. She was unable to hold her next serve though as Rybakina was simply too strong from the baseline. The player from Kazakhstan finished off the job with 6-4. The next part of the match saw more errors from Rybakina was Badosa was able to take an early break.

She held it for a while but Elena battled back thanks to some stellar shot-making. The match was pretty much on the racquet of Rybakina. When she was in rhythm she was outplaying her opponent and she wasn't she was making too many mistakes. We went to the tiebreak and it was Badosa who emerged victorious 7-4 in the tiebreak.