Badosa battles past lucky loser Zarazua in Doha opener

Paula Badosa was pushed all the way in her opening round clash at the Qatar Open, but battled past lucky loser Renata Zarazua in three sets on Monday.

Badosa, featuring in her second tournament since her semi-final run at the Australian Open, earned a 6-3 4-6 6-2 win in one hour and 47 minutes for her first victory of the season.

The Spaniard was due to play Katerina Siniakova, but the world number 53 withdrew from the contest earlier in the day with a hamstring injury.

Badosa needed just 31 minutes to close out the opener, finding two breaks in the fourth and eighth games before serving to love to take the advantage.

However, Zarazua responded in the second, eventually breaking the Spaniard in the sixth game, but was immediately pegged back.

But the Mexican rallied to claw back her lead in the 10th and final game of the set, with Badosa sending a forehand long to take the encounter the distance.

Badosa quickly powered to a double-break lead in the decider, though, and served her 14th ace of the day to bring up match point, which she dispatched at the first time of asking.

She will face Amanda Anisimova in the next round after the American beat Victoria Azarenka in straight sets on Sunday.

Fighting back @paulabadosa wins a hard fought match against Zarazua 6-3, 4-6, 6-2!#QatarTotalEnergiesOpen pic.twitter.com/AfQ2DdqfHE
— wta (@WTA) February 10, 2025

Data Debrief: Fifty up for Badosa

Badosa has taken confidence from her best career run in a grand slam tournament at Melbourne Park last month, starting the year inside the top 10 for the first time since 2022.

Though not at her best, serving six double faults throughout the contest, Badosa won 74% (35/47) of her first-serve points, which proved pivotal in deciding the tie.

Since the introduction of the WTA-1000 format in 2009, Badosa is the third Spaniard to register 50 wins in WTA-1000 events after Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.