Miami Open: Sabalenka downs her friend Badosa in painful circumstances

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated Spaniard Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Friday.

The Belarusian had been given an extra day before playing her first match, having decided to play despite the sudden and tragic death of her ex-boyfriend earlier in the week.

The Australian Open champion showed immense mental fortitude to get through what must have been an emotional occasion but she also played well in difficult conditions, saving the only break point she faced.

Badosa : “Both of us are pretty strong mentally”

The two women, good friends on and off the court, shared a warm embrace after the match. “It wasn’t very comfortable to play my best friend in this situation,” Badosa said. “Honestly, both of us are pretty strong mentally. We’re strong woman. She proved it. I proved it. We knew how to disconnect in that two hours, one hours and a half of match.

“She played really well. I played really well for where I’m coming from. I think it was quite decent. That all comes from because we know we’ve been through a lot in our lives, we’re strong women and we know how to separate that in that moment.

“I knew she was going to play very well or like normal. I told her I wish her the best. Let’s see if she can go very deep in this tournament.”

Black outfit

Badosa denied that the colour of their outfit, black, was a reference to the context. “It was a coincidence. Nike’s outfit.”

Sabalenka will face Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina, the No 32 seed, next. Badosa, ranked No 80, won against Romanian wildcard Simona Halep (1-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the previous round of the Miami tournament, rating this Miami trip “a win for (her)”.

“Three weeks ago I didn’t know I could be able to play here,” Badosa said. “I was in my country struggling, didn’t know what to do with my back with a lot of pain. I’ve been playing for the first time after almost a year eight days in a row. I’m very happy about that because I wasn’t able to play Indian Wells. I started to train there. I’m really happy that I’m being able to get back to it and to play high-level matches.”

She wants to play “as much as possible” during the clay season, starting at Charleston.

Miami WTA 1000, other second-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.770.480, most recent results first):

• Elina Avanesyan vs. Ons Jabeur
• Anastasia Potapova vs. Danielle Collins
• Naomi Osaka vs. Elina Svitolina
• Maria Timofeeva vs. Linda Noskova
• Lin Zhu vs. Jessica Pegula
• Iga Swiatek vs. Camila Giorgi
• Sloane Stephens vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Claire Liu
• Caroline Garcia vs. Viktoriya Tomova
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Emiliana Arango
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Shelby Rogers: friday
• Arantxa Rus vs. Oceane Dodin: friday
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Katie Volynets: friday
• Donna Vekic vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova: friday
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Nadia Podoroska (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Storm Hunter vs. Emma Navarro: friday
• Xinyu Wang beat Veronika Kudermetova (16): 6-3, 6-2
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Clara Tauson (Q): 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Victoria Azarenka (27) beat Peyton Stearns: 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Katerina Siniakova: 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 ret.
• Jelena Ostapenko (9) beat Laura Siegemund (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Dayana Yastremska (28) beat Daria Saville: 7-5, 7-5
• Madison Keys (17) beat Diana Shnaider: 6-2, 6-4
• Yulia Putintseva beat Liudmila Samsonova (13): 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
• Maria Sakkari (8) beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 6-2
• Anna Kalinskaya (22) beat Xiyu Wang: 6-2, 6-2
• Anhelina Kalinina beat Caroline Wozniacki (WC): 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
• Greet Minnen (LL) beat Lesia Tsurenko: 7-5, 6-1
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (11) beat Diane Parry: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Katie Boulter (24) beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (WC): 7-6 (5), 1-0 ret.
• Taylor Townsend (Q) beat Elise Mertens (25): 6-2, 6-2