Badosa battles heat but falls to qualifier Dart in Guangzhou

Heat takes its toll on Badosa

Paula Badosa refused to quit, but she could not hold on. The Spaniard, fifth seed at the Guangzhou Open, lost her quarter-final to British qualifier Harriet Dart 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Friday. She had led by a set and a break before the heat and humidity of southern China wore her down.

Badosa started strongly. She raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and closed it out 6-3. She was still ahead in the second when she began to show signs of physical distress. During a medical time-out, the physio checked her blood pressure and vital signs. Several reports suggested she was suffering from heatstroke.

Dart seizes the moment

Dart won the two games after the break in play to swing the momentum. She broke for 4-2 and took the second set 6-2. Badosa would not retire. She even broke early in the decider, but her physical problems continued. Dart broke back and moved ahead 5-3 in the eighth game, then closed out a 6-4 final set after more than two hours.

The defeat is a setback for Badosa, now ranked 61st. She had arrived in Guangzhou after a first-round exit in Osaka and had found some rhythm this week. She beat Sinja Kraus 6-1, 6-4 in the last 16. As the fifth seed, facing a qualifier in the quarter-finals, she was the clear favourite to reach the last four. Instead it is Dart, ranked 115th and a qualifier, who goes through.

For the Briton, it is the second tour-level semi-final of her career, after Cluj-Napoca in 2024. "It's been a very long time since I've been in the business end of the tournament so I am really excited for that," Dart said.

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Sixteen-year-old Sun stands in Dart's way

Dart's opponent on Saturday is the breakout player of the week. Chinese wild card Sun Xinran, 16, beat American Claire Liu 7-5, 7-6(2) in Friday's quarter-final. She is ranked 405th, which makes her the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in the tournament's history. Sun won the US Open girls' singles title less than two months ago and has dropped only one set in three matches in Guangzhou. This is only her second appearance in a WTA main draw.

The other semi-final also features a rising name. Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger needed three sets to get past China's Shi Han. She will face Kaitlin Quevedo, who beat Switzerland's Jil Teichmann in straight sets. Either Dart or Sun will meet one of them in Sunday's final, so the title will go to a first-time winner at this event.

For Badosa, the week in Guangzhou ends without the boost she was looking for. Before she thinks about her next tournament, she has to recover from a draining afternoon that showed both her fighting spirit and how unforgiving the conditions in Guangzhou can be.