Paula Badosa had to dig deep in order to defeat
Belinda Bencic in Sydney and after successfully doing so she underlined what was key.
Badosa needed almost three hours to squeeze out a victory against the Olympic champion and while she was able to do it, it took a lot of effort. FIght is how the Spaniard described it after the match when asked about it:
"The key was to stay fighting until the end like I always try to do. Accepting her good moments, because I think she played amazing and I had a lot of chances and I wasn't taking them. Then I think in the third set I was going for it, very aggressive, and that's what gave me the match."
Badosa will take on Daria Kasatkina in the next round and the Spaniard and Russian, while never played in the pros, know each other quite well. The last time they faced each other in the juniors was in 2013:
"I have pictures of [us at] 13 years old together. We were very close friends when we see each other in tournaments. I know her family and everything. She's a very nice girl. I'm happy that we both made it here. It's nice to see her as well here, playing in the semifinals now."