Paula Badosa has been accused of being ‘emotionally overwhelmed’ after being dumped out of the US Open by Emma Navarro.
Badosa was knocked out by Navarro in the quarter-finals, with the American triumphing 6-2, 7-5.
The contest had looked certain to go the distance after Badosa raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set.
But out of nowhere, Navarro emphatically fought back to take a whopping 24 of the last 28 points during the match.
It swung the momentum – and the tie – in the direction of Navarro, who will now take on two-time Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
But according to former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, Badosa’s shortcomings were all down to letting the emotions of playing in a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in three years get the better of her.
Speaking after the contest, Bartoli told Sky Sports: “Badosa will learn from this. She obviously has never reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, and I think it’s more emotional than tennis-wise because she has the tennis, the weapons, the fitness levels.
“She has the game but emotionally she gets overwhelmed. And she did today in a situation where she was in control.”
The Italian continued: “She has to keep working on that because it takes a psychological jump to get over that barrier. She lost that second set purely on that.
“Navarro stayed steady but Badosa broke into pieces when she was in control.”
It’s a sentiment shared by opponent Navarro, who commented post-match: “Even though she was up 5-1, after that game, I felt like she wasn’t totally confident in her ability to close out that set.
“I felt like if I could push back a little bit and make her think a little bit on her service game, maybe I could sneak my way back in there.
“Sometimes you’re out in the court, and you can picture yourself playing a third set.
“When I was out there, I didn’t picture myself playing a third set. I felt I could come back and do it in two.”
It represented a landmark evening in Navarro’s career, with the 23-year-old having reached a Grand Slam semi-final for the first-ever time.
She’ll be the outsider against former world No.1 Sabalenka, while Beatriz Haddad Maia vs Karolína Muchova and Iga Swiatek vs Jessica Pegula making up the quarter-finals on the opposite side of the draw.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk