Former World No.2 Paula Badosa won her first title in over two years by defeating No.43 Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Washington D.C. is Badosa's fourth career Hologic WTA Tour title, having won her last at 2022 Sydney. 

Badosa is the second wild card to win a Hologic WTA Tour title this season, following Jelena Ostapenko's title run in Linz earlier this year.

After entering the tournament ranked No.62, the 26-year-old will leave America's capital ranked inside the Top 50 for the first time since August of last year. She will surpass Cristina Bucsa as the highest-ranked Spaniard on tour.

Read: Badosa's decision to skip Olympics pays off in Washington D.C.

"Especially what I went through the last year, for me being back, winning big titles like a 500, winning the best players this the world, being competing against them again, for me it means a lot," Badosa said. "That's why I had this mix of emotions. I was really, really nervous because I really wanted it really bad." 

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It has been a resurgent summer for Badosa, who fell out of the Top 100 after suffering a stress fracture in her back last season. After struggling to earn back-to-back wins for the first five months of the year, Badosa has turned her season around over the last two months.

"One year ago I was on the couch," Badosa said, "so it's a big difference now. Now I'm an athlete again." 

Building on a Round of 16 run at Rome, Badosa went on to make the Bad Homburg quarterfinals and Round of 16 at Wimbledon. Her Wimbledon run was her first second-week appearance at a Grand Slam since 2022.

"Even before the tournament I was feeling good, I was feeling confident," Badosa said. "I think I needed to win something, a big title for me. Because my personality, I'm not happy always with finals and semifinals. I want to win titles.

"I'm very perfectionist. Of course, that sometimes brings me down, but also in important moments I think it gives me that extra. I felt I needed this moment very much."

Badosa came into Sunday's final with a 2-0 record against Bouzkova across all levels and a 3-0 career record in WTA finals. Coming off wins over Sofia Kenin, Liudmila Samsonova, Emma Raducanu and Caroline Dolehide, Badosa looked poised for a quick victory. She needed just 30 minutes to pocket the opening set, breaking Bouzkova in every service game.

Boukova paved her way to her second final of the year by engineering a big upset over World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. With her gritty defending and baseline consistency, Bouzkova ousted Sabalenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. 

After Bouzkova held serve for the first time in the opening game of the second set, play was suspended due to inclement weather in the area. When play resumed at 1-1, the margin in quality between the competitors began to narrow. Bouzkova fought off Badosa's attempts to break away and seal a straight-set win. She gamely fought off four break points to stay on serve at 3-2 and then saved two more in a four-deuce game to hold to 4-3. 

Having wrenched back the momentum in the match, Bouzkova finally broke through the Badosa serve, breaking to seal the set and force a decider.

After a brief rain delay that came two points into the final set, Badosa tallied the decisive break to lead 3-2. From there, Badosa's serve, which had been near-automatic throughout the week, came through again. She protected her lead through the finish line to seal the win after 2 hours and 24 minutes.