World No. 3 Paula Badosa is preparing for a difficult Stuttgart quarterfinal as she has admitted that she expects 10th-ranked Ons Jabeur to come out firing.
On Thursday, No. 2 seed Badosa edged out Elena Rybakina 6-2 4-6 7-6 (4) to progress into the Stuttgart quarterfinal.
Badosa defeated Jabeur when they first met in the 2015 US Open qualifying.
Their first official match came last year, when Jabeur defeated Badosa at the Miami Masters.
In October, Badosa beat Jabeur en route to winning her maiden Masters title in Indian Wells.
“I’ll have to be ready for her very flat game. She’ll be very aggressive. She won’t give me much time to play, to think,” Badosa told WTA Insider.
“I expect a tough match, a big match. Whoever plays better that day will win because the level is very tight.”
Badosa survived the Rybakina challenge
Badosa got off to a fast start, having taken an early 3-0 lead.
In the sixth game, Badosa earned her second break to take a comfortable 5-1 lead in the first set.
Badosa failed to serve out for the first set in the seventh game but broke Jabeur for the third time in the eighth game to win the opener.
After easily losing the first set, Rybakina bounced back at the start of the second set as she claimed back-to-back breaks to open a 4-0 lead.
Down by two breaks, Badosa responded as she then claimed back-to-breaks to win four games in a row and level the second set to four games apiece.
Blowing a double-break lead didn’t impact Rybakina, who broke Badosa again in the ninth game and served out for the second set in the following game.
Badosa started the third set with an early break but Rybakina recovered and the set eventually went into a tie-break.
The key moment of the tie-break came when Badosa won three points in a row to open a 6-2 lead.
Rybakina saved the first two match points but couldn’t save the third as Badosa escaped with a three-set win.