Paula Badosa defeats Leylah Fernandez to return to Indian Wells quarterfinals

Paula Badosa extended her Indian Wells winning streak to nine matches in a row on Tuesday night, outdoing Leylah Fernandez, 6-4, 6-4, in the round of 16.

Badosa, who won the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 event last year when it was held in October, is the first woman to win the title and then reach at least the quarterfinals at the next edition of the event since Simona Halep, who won it in 2015 then reached the final eight in 2016 (falling to Serena Williams).

“Can we make every week a tournament here? I would prefer it,” Badosa joked in her on-court interview. “It’s amazing to be back here. I feel very well playing here.

“Today was very tough. Leylah, she’s an amazing player. Very fast, very good timing—I knew I had to fight and serve very well. I think I did that the entire match and I got the win, and I’m very, very happy to be in the quarterfinals again.”

Badosa and Fernandez both came into this one on winning streaks—Badosa had won her last eight matches at Indian Wells, going 6-0 to capture the title here last year and 2-0 so far this year, while Fernandez had won her last seven matches on the tour, going 5-0 to win Monterrey a few weeks ago and 2-0 here.

But on the night Badosa was just too solid, on both the serve and the return—she had break points in four of Fernandez’s first five service games, converting twice, and when she had her chance to serve for the first set at 5-4, she did it at love.

The Spaniard broke one more time in the fifth game of the second set for a 3-2 lead and that’s all she needed, as the two would hold from there until it was over.

The No. 7-ranked Badosa finished the match with one less winner than Fernandez, 23 to 24, but nine fewer unforced errors, 28 to 37.

She was asked afterwards what she was happiest with in her performance.

“I was very aggressive. I saw how Leylah was playing and I knew the only option was to serve well and try to be very aggressive with the returns, and that’s what I did. And mentally, in the important moments, like at 4-3 [in the second set] with the break points, I stayed composed, and I think that was a little bit the key.”

Awaiting Badosa in the quarterfinals will be Veronika Kudermetova, who won a late-night battle against Marketa Vondrousova, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5.

Kudermetova is 3-0 against Badosa, their last meeting coming 11 months ago in the semifinals of Charleston on green clay, which the Russian won, 6-3, 6-3.