From practice partners to rivals: Badosa readies for Raducanu in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Paula Badosa and Emma Raducanu arrived at the Mubadala Citi DC Open looking to build on their recent surges in form and confidence. Though the Spaniard is five years older than the Brit, both have found plenty of common ground. 

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Badosa was born in the United States and raised in Spain. Raducanu was born in Canada before her family moved to England. Both have found themselves under the intense scrutiny of their respective hopeful nations and have seen their soaring careers derailed by debilitating injuries.  Sure, Badosa has yet to win a major, but Raducanu has never been ranked as high as World No.2 either. 

Badosa is now ranked No.62 on the PIF WTA Rankings. Raducanu is back in the Top 100 at No.89. The two practiced together ahead of the tournament and have been taking their conversations off the court as well. 

"We went for lunch, for breakfast," Badosa said after advancing to the quarterfinals on Thursday. "We spoke a lot about how tough it is to deal with all these expectations - especially in her case. I had a little bit of the same in my career. Especially when you feel that anything you do, it's going to be crazy on social media. In her case, it's like that.

"I think she's dealing with it pretty well now. She's found a balance. It's never going to be easy in her case because, as I say, anything she does, it's going to get crazy. But it's part of it. I think she has to find the beautiful part of it. That's what I'm trying to find also. It's nice that we can share our own experiences. 

"OK, now it's time for her to lose the next match."

Badosa said that last part with a wink and a smile. As luck would have it, she'll face Raducanu for the first time on Friday with a spot in a WTA 4500 semifinal on the line. It would be Raducanu's biggest semifinal since winning the 2021 US Open. Badosa's last semifinal at any level was at 2023 Adelaide. 

"Especially here, I think these conditions, these balls -- and she proved it also a few years ago with US Open -- it suits her very well," Badosa said. "She's a very fast player. She has a very fast eye also. She changes directions really well.

"And she's playing great. I mean, since Wimbledon she was showing a very high level. I think mentally she's in a good place also. I'm expecting a tough match there."

After opening her tournament with a 6-1, 7-6(6) win over Sofia Kenin, Badosa advanced on Thursday after No.3 seed Liudmila Samsonova retired with an upper respiratory illness. 

Samsonova wasn't the only player forced to pull out of the tournament on Thursday. No.4 seed Ons Jabeur withdrew ahead of her opening match against local wild card Robin Montgomery due to a shoulder injury. 

"After consulting with my doctor, it has been determined that participating will aggravate my condition," Jabeur said in a statement to the tournament. "I would like to say sorry to all the fans here in Washington and the tournament, I was looking forward to performing here and getting to share fantastic moments with the Fans. Looking forward to coming back here next year healthy."

The other marquee quarterfinal will feature top seed and World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka against former No.1 Victoria Azarenka, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 win over Wang Yafan. Both players are recovering from shoulder injuries that forced them to skip Wimbledon. 

"Not having a lot of matches under the belt lately and also coming off injury," Azarenka said. "I think the positives are that I played almost three hours in back-to-back matches and my shoulder feels good. That was one of my main goals this week, that I'm able to handle the match play."

This will be the sixth career meeting between Sabalenka and Azarenka. Sabalenka has won their last three meetings and leads the head-to-head 4-1. Azarenka's last win came in 2020.

"I think the most important thing right now is placing an opponent like Aryna and seeing where my game is at and what I can do. Maybe from our last matches I can try some new things to hopefully turn it my way. So I think my focus is more internal this week for the purposes of getting ready and preparing for the US Open."