Badosa returns to the circuit in Miami with victory, Jódar already wins in Masters 1000 and Landaluce surprises Giron

The Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa beat the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich this Thursday in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Miami (USA), which is played on hard courts, and her compatriots Rafa Jódar and Martín Landaluce have done the same in the Masters 1000 of the same tournament, beating the German Yannick Hanfmann and the American Marcos Giron respectively.

Badosa played a WTA 125 event last week in Austin (Texas, USA), equivalent to a Challenger level, and reached the semifinals, where she lost to Canadian Bianca Andreescu. And now in Florida, a day later than expected due to the rain, the Catalan returned to the elite WTA circuit and achieved a 7-5, 6-3 victory with a good mood.

The Catalan prevailed at number 109 in the world ranking after a match where in the initial set she had two breaks against her and which she won with a third break when her rival served to force the tie-break, having saved a break point. In the second set, equality continued until 3-3, when Badosa threatened with a break that came later.

After then going 4-3 up, the Catalan did break Sasnovich’s next serve and sealed her ticket to the thirty-second final in one hour and 48 minutes, where she will face the young American Iva Jovic, who was exempt from competing in the previous phase.

Later in the Masters 1000 draw, the young Rafa Jódar, who came from the qualifying phase, achieved his first victory in an ATP event at this level after beating Yannick Hanfmann, also from the qualifying phase, 6-4, 4-6 and 6-1. The Italian Lorenzo Musetti, seeded fourth, will be his next opponent in Miami.

In addition, veteran Roberto Bautista also advanced to the second round in Florida after beating Australian James Duckworth 7-6(3) and 7-6(4). The man from Castellón, who will now face the Russian Karen Kachanov, was ‘break’ down in the first set and even saved two set points.

Finally, Landaluce beat Giron 6-3 and 7-6(6) in just over an hour and a half, having been lethal with his only break in his favor in the opening set and having come back in the second set after being 2-4 down.