China Open: Badosa beats red-hot Sramkova to reach fourth round

Former world No 2 Paula Badosa, of Spain, reached the last 16 of the China Open by beating Slovak qualifier Rebecca Sramkova 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday.

The Slovak had two setpoints at 5-4, 40-15 on her serve in the second set but was unable to hold off Badosa.

Sramkova has been on a roll in recent weeks, winning 13 of her last 14 matches on tour, including the last nine in a row. The Slovak reached the final in Monastir and then won her first WTA title in Hua Hin before coming to Beijing where she won two matches in qualifying and then two in the main draw.

Badosa, seeded 15th and ranked No 19, has been in fine form herself, and returned to the top 20 after struggling for most of 2023 and the first half of 2024 with a back injury. The Spaniard has now won 18 of her last 23 matches on the tour.

She has also won her last 11 matches against players outside the Top 50 now.
at Madrid earlier this year

She will play the winner of the match between Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 32 seed, and American Jessica Pegula, the second seed, next.

In the previous round of the tournament, Badosa defeated Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-3, 6-2).

Sramkova, ranked No 61, beat Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (6-4, 6-0) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 22 seed (5-7, 6-4, 6-3) earlier in the week.

Beijing WTA 1000, other third-round matches (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8,955,610):

• Magdalena Frech (23) beat Diana Shnaider (12): 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Nadia Podoroska vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Amanda Anisimova
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Donna Vekic
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Magda Linette
• Karolina Muchova vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Elise Mertens
• Madison Keys vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Katie Boulter vs. Coco Gauff
• Katie Volynets vs. Naomi Osaka
• Shuai Zhang vs. Greet Minnen
• Peyton Stearns vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Yuliia Starodubtseva
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Jessica Pegula