Paula Badosa’s long climb back from a year lost to injury has produced its most tangible reward yet: a place in a WTA final, and with it a fast-closing route back into a Grand Slam main draw.
The former world No. 2 recovered from a set down to beat Tamara Zidansek 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1) in the semifinals of the UniCredit Iasi Open, the WTA 250 on the clay of Romania, reaching her first final at tour level since she lifted the trophy at the Citi Open in Washington in the summer of 2024.
It was Badosa’s ninth consecutive win, and the run tells the story of a genuine reset. The streak began last week in Sweden, where the Spaniard won the WTA 125 title in Bastad — her first silverware of a season she started ranked outside the world’s top 100 — before carrying the momentum straight into Iasi. There she has dropped just one set in four matches, dispatching Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-1, edging Alevtina Ibragimova 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4, and outlasting fifth seed Panna Udvardy 6-4, 7-6(2) to set up the semifinal.
For a player who spent much of 2025 in medical timeouts rather than finals, the turnaround has been striking. Badosa was named the WTA’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2024 after climbing back into the top 12 and reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open. But a chronic back problem — a psoas tear that lingered from early in the year — wrecked her 2025, forcing a string of withdrawals and mid-match retirements, costing her the entire North American hard-court swing and sending her ranking tumbling. She began 2026 vowing simply to stay on court.
The nine-match streak now carries a concrete stake beyond confidence: her US Open eligibility. Badosa’s official ranking sits at No. 115, but the points banked from Bastad and this week’s run have lifted her live ranking to roughly No. 103 — right on the margin that typically separates direct entry into a Grand Slam main draw from a trip through qualifying.
There is no fixed number that guarantees a place at Flushing Meadows; the direct-acceptance cutoff shifts each year with withdrawals, protected rankings and the strength of the entry list, and in recent seasons the women’s line has fallen around the world’s top 104 to 108. That makes Badosa’s timing close to ideal. The 2026 US Open main draw begins on Sunday, 30 August, with qualifying draws made on 24 August — meaning the entry list is being finalized now, and every place she climbs in these weeks tightens her grip on a direct berth rather than a qualifying gamble.
Winning the Iasi title on Sunday would push her further still, and there is history riding on it too: a ninth straight victory equals the longest winning streak of Badosa’s career, matching the nine she strung together in 2021 during her breakout summer. Standing between her and the trophy is Mayar Sherif. The Egyptian, herself enjoying a strong clay run, came through the other half of the draw, and the pair share a 1-1 career head-to-head.
For Badosa, though, the final is almost the secondary prize. Six weeks ago a US Open main-draw place looked like a stretch that would hinge on qualifying week. Nine wins later, it is within touching distance — and a player who has beaten every WTA final she has ever reached will fancy her chances of finishing the job.
