Paula Badosa is starting to find Australia a lot more to her liking, the rising Spaniard claiming her first title down under at the Sydney International.
The world No.9 recovered from a second-set letdown to beat 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcicova 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-4) in two hours and 24 minutes on Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday.
Letdown was a key feature of Badosa's 2021 Australian experience, the 24-year-old going into hard quarantine with coronavirus ahead of the season-opening slam.
At the time Badosa described feeling "abandoned", felt the conditions were "lamentable" and summarised her stay as "far and away the worst experience of (her) career."
Then ranked No.67 in the world, she was bounced out in the Open first round by qualifier Liudmila Samsonova in three sets.
That all seemed a world away on Saturday as the Melbourne Park smoky racked up her third career title under sunny skies in Sydney.
Following a breakthrough rest of 2021, when she picked up two trophies from two finals, made a maiden grand slam quarter-final and rocketed into the top 10, Badosa again delivered.
She broke Czech world No.4 Krejcicova three times in the opening set, giving one break back but ultimately taking it in 34 minutes.
Badosa looked in striking distance of a straight-sets win at 4-4 in the second set but a loose service game handed the advantage to her opponent who then sealed the deal with ball in hand.
The third set was an arm wrestle and after trading early breaks, both players remained strong on serve.
Krejcicova, who'd saved a remarkable seven set points to outlast Anett Kontaveit in their semi-final, seemed up for the task again and went blow-for-blow with Badosa late in the clash.
But consecutive lost service points midway through the tie-breaker handed the advantage to Badosa, Krejcicova saving one match point before surrendering the clash on serve.
Badosa will face Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the Australian Open first round while Krejcicova takes on German Andrea Petkovic.
