Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa defeated Barbora Krejcikova with 2-1 (6:3, 4:6, 7:6), winning the title at the WTA 500 Sydney Classics tournament.
Paula Badosa showed stronger nerves and grabbed the prestigious trophy after 2:24 hours of play in the tournament with a prize fund of 703,508 USD.
Barbora Krejcikova, who is the champion of the 2021 French Open, did everything possible but failed to stop the Spaniard. The Czech was also visibly tired from her semi-final match with Estonian Anett Kontaveit, in which she saved seven match points to reach the final.
Paula Badosa broke her opponent in the opening game of the match, but later Barbora Krejcikova returned it for 2:2. By the end of the set, the Spaniard imposed complete dominance and won 6:3.
The second set also started with a break, but this time in favor of the Czech. Barbora Krejcikova however lost her service game for 3:3, but later took advantage with another break for 5:4 and took her service game to 15 to make the result 1-1.
The third set started with an early exchange of breaks, after which both were convincing on the service and came to a tiebreak. In it, Paula Badosa showed confidence and reached the title after 7:4.
The Spanish player made 12 aces against 6 for her opponent. She also had a higher percentage of the 1st service points – 74% vs 62%.
Both players will play at the Australian Open on Monday, as Paula Badosa will face Ajla Tomljanovic and Barbora Krejcikova will play versus Andrea Petkovic.
