Home » In San Jose, Paula Badosa responds after avoiding a shocking loss to the qualifier rated 240th.

Rank 2 seed In her San Jose debut, Paula Badosa narrowly escaped a shocking defeat and said afterwards that qualifier Elizabeth Mandlik, who is rated 240th, performed “unbelievable.” Badosa began her San Jose campaign with a 6-2 5-7 7-6 (5) victory over American qualifier Mandlik following a first-round bye.

According to Badosa, who was quoted on the WTA website, “I think sometimes it’s a little strange when you play against a woman with her ranking because sometimes you don’t expect that kind of score and you believe you’re not doing things correctly.”

However, I must acknowledge the fact that she simply played fantastic and I thought my play was fairly strong.

Twice, Badosa was on the point of losing.

Mandlik led 5-3 in the third set until failing to serve out the match in the tenth game.

Mandlik broke Badosa once more in the eleventh game to take the lead at 6-5 and give herself another opportunity to serve out the match after failing to do so earlier. However, Badosa again prevented Mandlik from serving out the match by breaking back the American to force a tie-break.

Badosa converted on her second match point in the tie-break to take the match in three grueling sets. Ons Jabeur, the third-seeded player, defeated Madison Keys in two sets, 7-5, 6-1, avoiding any controversy in the process. Jabeur remarked after the victory, “I’m thankful that I played at night because it’s slower and it helps me a little bit with the conditions.

“I am aware of her quick ball play. But she has my utmost regard. She excels as a player. I anticipated it would be a difficult match for me. I simply tried to stay low and strike the ball as often as I could. Make her play a different ball, and eventually I would feel much better.”

The winner of the match between Naomi Osaka and Cori Gauff will be the opponent for Badosa, while Jabeur’s opponent will either be Veronika Kudermetova or Clara Liu.