Spanish Paula Badosa engaged in a battle for ages as the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka fell just a single match point short of eking out an epic win. The battle looked heated from the outset, the first set went to Paula, who won 7-6 coming on top after winning the tiebreaker 7-5. However, Victoria stormed back in the second set and claimed it 6-2. The third set again saw a grinding end. With the game set at 6-6, the players engaged in another tiebreaker, where Paula came through 7-2.
Badosa committed eleven double faults whereas Victoria had seven of them. Azarenka completely outplayed Badosa in terms of receiving points, claiming that end 66-52. Meanwhile, Paula had 72-67 service points advantage. Courtesy of the strong second set win, Victoria’s total points read at 133 while Paula’s at 124. However, Paula’s strong comeback in the third set gave her the first WTA 1000 Masters title of her career.
