Badosa books last eight spot

Defending champion Paula Badosa booked her place in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday night with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

The Spaniard will face either Veronika Kudermetova or Marketa Vondrousova in the last eight.

Badosa, 24, hit 23 winners to 28 unforced errors, while Fernandez hit 24 winners to 37 unforced errors and won 78 per cent of her first serve points.

“I knew that [being aggressive and serving well would] be the key,” she said after the win.

“I knew she was going to make me move and not make me hit, like stop, because I was going to be aggressive and not letting her be moving me a lot.

“The key was a little bit the serve and to push her when she was serving. In the important moments, in the key moments, I served well and went for it very good.”

The Spaniard who has yet to drop a set at the event, was too powerful for Fernandez, breaking at 4-3 in the first set, then 5-4 after Fernandez broke back, before closing out the set in 45 minutes.

Badosa held firm in the second set, against a rejuvenated Fernandez and at 5-3 served to win the match.