Both players had 13 successful swings, but Badosa made fewer unforced errors than Sherif, who had eight.
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Paula Badosa has a history of success at the Charleston Open, and the 12th seed put on one of her most flawless performances of the year to beat Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round. The Spaniard reached the semifinals in 2021, defeating Ashleigh Barty en route to her first victory over the reigning World No. 1, and the quarterfinals in 2022. “It’s impossible to forget,” she told the crowd. “I was No.70 in the world, and this is where it all started.”
Badosa travels to Charleston this year hoping to halt a decline in the rankings. She reached a career high of No. 2 just over a year ago; this week, she has dropped to No. 29. Sherif’s shotmaking posed a threat, but she was able to avoid it with a steady display. The next opponent for the Spaniard will either be returning mother of two Evgeniya Rodina or former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
The first set featured intense competition and was closer than the score indicates. Both players had 13 successful swings, but Badosa made fewer unforced errors than Sherif, who had eight. This allowed her to maintain the lead after securing an early break; the Egyptian continued to make comeback threats but was unable to fully contain Badosa despite regaining the break in game seven. In the second set, Sherif’s errors increased as she started swinging more wildly. She had six winners and 12 unforced errors, whereas Badosa maintained a perfect game with 13 winners and only 5 unforced errors.
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Badosa quickly won the first five games, but Sherif unexpectedly improved her performance and broke as the top-seeded player served for the match. But in the following game, Badosa decisively put an end to any hope of a comeback by breaking Sherif from a 40-0 deficit with a flurry of forehand winners.
Dominic Thiem, who had not won since mid-February, showed all of his tenacity to battle to a first-round victory on Tuesday at the clay-court Estoril Open in Portugal. Sebastian Ofner was defeated by his fellow Austrian 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for Thiem’s first victory in five tour-level contests. After a shaky start, the 29-year-old broke his No. 122-ranked opponent twice in each of the second and third sets to win the match in two hours and five minutes and advance to face Ben Shelton in the second round.
Thiem won the match and increased his head to head series lead against his compatriot to 3-0 by converting five of the 16 break points he earned against Ofner. The turnaround was facilitated by a few instances of his trademark brilliance, especially off his backhand victory. After Tuesday’s victory, he now has a 2-8 record for the season, which he will hope will serve as a starting point for better performance. Thiem has historically excelled on clay, reaching the Roland Garros final in 2018 and 2019. On the surface, he has triumphed in 10 of his 17 tour-level victories.
