When the ‘going’ gets tough, the tough get going! The Spanish tennis star, Paula Badosa had some tough times over the past few months and she has struggled quite a bit with her chronic back injury. However, now she’s all set to take on the British number-one tennis star, Katie Boulter in the first round of the 2024 French Open. Badosa grew up playing on the clay courts and she has a terrific record at Roland Garros. In fact, she reached the QF of the mega event in 2021. But she believes this is going to be a “tough match” on Tuesday (May 28).

Paula Badosa will be entering this tournament after a two-year gap although injuries and lack of consistency have prevented her from gaining any sort of winning momentum in the last few months. But this is a stage she’d fancy her chances more than any other Grand Slam event. Boulter on the other hand had a relatively successful campaign so far this season. So, this is going to be a contest to watch out for!

Paula Badosa vs Katie Boulter: Preview

Paula Badosa didn’t have any notable performances this year. She last took part at the 2024 Italian Open, where she was defeated by America’s Coco Gauff in the R16 by 5-7,6-4,6-1. She hit two aces in that match and committed nine double faults. Her first serve win percentage was 62% but it dropped to 47% on the second serve. Paula Badosa converted five of her breakpoints against Coco Gauff. So, in spite of loosing, this match may have added a fair bit of confidence in the Spaniard’s camp before taking her flight to Paris.

Nowadays, Badosa’s off-court activities have taken precedence over her on-court ones when it comes to media coverage. But if we shift the focus a bit on her stats from this season, she has hit 71 aces and committed almost 101 double faults so far. She has won 69.2% of her service games and 31.9% of her return games.

Now, talking about her opponent from Leicestershire, Katie Boulter won her first WTA 500 title at San Diego in March this year. After that, she looked pretty much ordinary though. However, just before entering the mega clay court tournament, Boulter reached the QF of the WTA 125K Paris, FR. She was defeated by France’s Varvara Gracheva by 6-3,7-6(6) in the QF match. Katie Boulter hit just two aces and committed seven double faults in the entire match. Her first serve win percentage was 66% while it was just around 54% on the second serve. She successfully converted two out of her three breakpoints in that match.

Katie Boulter has hit 58 aces so far this season and has committed 103 double faults. She has won 74.7% of her service games and 33% of her return games this season. But who is leading the H2H record at the moment?

Badosa vs Boutler: Head-to-Head

Well, the H2H record is currently at 0-0. Both the players haven’t faced each other earlier in the Tour. And they couldn’t have asked for a better stage to mark their first encounter. Clay courts have always been very special to Paula Badosa. She recently revealed, “I grew up on this surface. I like the conditions here it’s pretty bouncy. Also, I like to play with spin, pretty fast at the same time.” Badosa is pretty much comfortable with this surface.

However, Boulter isn’t too comfortable sitting at the same rank for too long, she has higher ambitions! “Of course I’m happy and I’m doing well and I’m getting closer to where I want to be. But I genuinely think I have a chance of being inside the top 10, I think my game can be there. So I struggle to be satisfied sitting at 27 in the world (Currently she’s ranked 28th in the world).” So, considering every detail, who has an edge in this enticing contest on Tuesday?

Prediction: Badosa to win in straight sets

If anything is keeping Paula Badosa ahead of Katie Boulter in the R1 clash, then it’s surely gonna be the surfaces of the Parisian tournament. She has greater experience on clay and this might indeed prove to be a crucial differentiating factor in this exciting faceoff. Katie Boulter, on the other hand, has struggled a bit previously on clay courts altough she’d love to bank on her good serving abilities and attacking style of play to make her presence felt on the dirt. Boulter also has powerful groundstrokes in her armory.

However, is it enough to counter the aggressive baseliner? Paula Badosa’s game is basically based on big serve and venomous groundstrokes. She has in fact one of the fastest serves on the tour. The Spaniard can be very deceptive with her effective drop shot as well. Badosa has a win-loss record of 9-10 this season, whereas it’ 12-8 for Boulter. Nevertheless, the experience of playing on the bigger stage may come in handy for the Spanish tennis star in this intriguing contest.