World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Charleston WTA quarter-finals on Friday, beaten in straight sets by 71st-ranked Spaniard Paula Badosa.
Badosa fired seven aces — three more than Barty — and saved 12 of 14 break points she faced on the way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
It’s the biggest win of Badosa’s career, the Spaniard having notched her first top-20 victory when she beat fifth-seeded Belinda Bencic in the 2nd round.
“I’m still a little bit shocked,” Badosa admitted in a post-match TV interview, adding that when Barty’s final forehand reeled out of court “I was, like, ‘What just happened?’
“But I’m quite happy with my match, the way that I managed my nerves. It was quite important because sometimes these matches are tough to close.”
In the semi-finals Badosa will face Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, the 15th seed, for a spot in the championship final.
Badosa, a former French Open junior champion, is the lowest-ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019.
In other matches, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur defeated American Coco Gauff 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) to book a semi-final meeting with Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, a 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 6-1 winner over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.