WTA Guadalajara: As Badosa retires, Azarenka advances to showdown with Keys

Top seed Paula Badosa, of Spain, retired after the first set of her second round clash with former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka due to illness, sending the Belarusian into the last 16 of the WTA Guadalajara Open.

Azarenka had just won the first set 6-2 when Badosa decided to forfeit the match. With the loss, the Spaniard is out of contention for one of the remaining berths at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, which begin on October 31.

“I felt like I played pretty clean, I served pretty well,” Azarenka said as quoted by the tournament website. “I took my chances pretty early in the match, it was pretty much what I wanted to do. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t finish the game, I hope Paula feels better, and the next time we play she’s totally healthy.”

Badosa said she had been feeling ill for a few days and had tried to recover but to no avail.

“I have tried to recover by all means, but it has not been possible. I am very sad to leave Guadalajara, because I was very excited to compete in front of everyone, and where I have very nice memories,” Badosa said.

Azarenka to meet Keys next with the American still with a shot to qualify for the WTA Finals

Azarenka had earlier defeated Russian lucky loser Elina Avanesyan (6-4, 6-2) in the first round. The two-time Australian Open champion, ranked No 37, will next meet American Madison Keys, the No 13 seed, next.

Keys scored a three-set win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in another second-round match to keep her chances of making it to the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas alive.

Keys is one of seven players in contention for one of the three remaining berths in the eight-player season-ending finale.

The American, who has played once in the WTA Finals previously in her career, will be hoping to score her first win over Azarenka in three meetings.

The complete line-up of matches in the last 16 at Guadalajara:

• Victoria Azarenka vs. [13] Madison Keys
• [5] Coco Gauff vs. Martina Trevisan
• [3] Jessica Pegula vs. Bianca Andreescu
• Sloane Stephens vs. [6] Caroline Garcia
• [8] Veronika Kudermetova vs. [12] Jelena Ostapenko
• [14] Danielle Collins vs. [4] Maria Sakkari
• [7] Daria Kasatkina vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Maria Bouzkova vs. Liudmila Samsonova

Guadalajara WTA 1000, other second-round results (Centro Panamericano de Tenis, hard, USD 2.527.250, most recent results first):

• Madison Keys beat Ajla Tomljanovic: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Sloane Stephens beat Belinda Bencic (10): 6-4, 6-4
• Marie Bouzkova beat Camila Osorio: 6-3, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Elena Rybakina: 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Veronika Kudermetova (8) beat Donna Vekic (WC): 6-4, 7-5
• Coco Gauff (5) beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Q): 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Anna Kalinskaya beat Elise Mertens: 6-4, 0-6, 7-5
• Martina Trevisan beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
• Liudmila Samsonova beat Aryna Sabalenka (2): 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
• Danielle Collins (14) beat Magdalena Frech (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Jelena Ostapenko (12) beat Eugenie Bouchard (WC): 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
• Caroline Garcia (6) beat Rebecca Marino (Q): 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Daria Kasatkina (7) beat Lin Zhu: 6-1, 6-2
• Maria Sakkari (4) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-4, 6-4
• Bianca Andreescu beat Petra Kvitova (16): 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

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