Ashleigh Barty's French Open campaign came to an end in sad circumstances on Thursday as the world number one was forced to retire hurt when 1-6 2-2 down against Magda Linette.

Barty required medical attention during her first-round win over Bernarda Pera two days earlier, with a hip injury a cause for concern.

The 25-year-old – back at Roland Garros for the first time since winning her maiden grand slam title in Paris in 2019 – vowed to "play through the pain barrier", yet the injury proved too much to deal with on Thursday.

Barty's retirement throws the draw wide open, with both of the top seeds now out after Naomi Osaka decided to withdraw amid her disagreement with tournament organisers.

Barty's discomfort seemed evident from the off, though Linette did have to fend off an immediate break point to hold in the first game.

The Australian had to claw back three break points on her first serve, however, and a double fault in game four handed Linette the first break, with Barty clearly struggling when attempting to twist to her right.

A lame backhand into the net gifted Linette another break, and the Pole served out the set at the first time of asking with just 36 minutes on the clock.

After a lengthy delay in which she received treatment both on court and back in the changing rooms, Barty returned with seemingly renewed vigour to hold the first game of set two with relative ease.

Linette, though, kept her composure, with a couple of aces helping her level things up, and despite winning the next game thanks to her speed of serve, Barty was grimacing again.

Some excellent returns from Barty kept Linette at bay, but the world number 45 struck a powerful serve down the middle to make it 2-2, and that proved the final straw for her opponent, who shook hands at the net and, with a wave to the crowd, trudged down the tunnel.

DATA SLAM: BARTY'S BRAVE FACE NOT ENOUGH

Linette has claimed one of the biggest wins of her career, though the 29-year-old would have wished for it to come in more glorious circumstances. Barty tried her best to continue, but the injury was having too much of an impact on the key parts of her game – she made four double faults to Linette's zero, and tallied up 18 unforced errors, double the amount of her opponent.

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Barty – 9/18
Linette – 12/9

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Barty – 2/4
Linette – 4/0

BREAK POINTS WON
Barty – 0/1
Linette – 2/7

Naomi Osaka's shock withdrawal from the French Open has raised questions over news conferences and their impact on mental health for athletes.

Osaka pulled out of Roland Garros on Monday, a day after tournament organisers fined the four-time grand slam champion and threatened her with more severe sanctions for refusing to attend mandatory media conferences.

The 23-year-old world number two and Japanese star had opened up about her mental health problems, revealing in a statement she has had "long bouts of depression" since claiming the 2018 US Open.

While her WTA and ATP Tour colleagues voiced their support, Osaka's stance has sparked controversy, though more importantly it has highlighted the growing issue of mental health problems in sport.

"I think it's a very important stance because it really highlights how sport has really looked at challenging issues through either the paradigm of sport or business," World Players Association executive director Brendan Schwab told Stats Perform. "Here, there is a very simple rule put in place that athletes have to attend post-match media conferences in order to promote visibility around the sport and then to promote the commercial interests of the sport. But that rule is put in place without any due diligence being done as to the risks with that on athletes or athlete health and safety.

"If we look at health and safety, we have to look at not only physical health but mental health and wellbeing. There is a very clear rule but it's going to impact athletes differently. The tournament organisers and sports bodies need to understand they have this proactive duty and to be aware of those impacts, and where their rule is going to have a harmful impact, they need to just adjust their procedures and requirements accordingly."

German great Boris Becker voiced his concerns for Osaka's future following her decision to quit the French Open in Paris.

A six-time slam winner, Becker told Eurosport: "I always believed the media was part of the job. Without the media, there is no prize money, no contracts, you don't get half the cake. I hated the media and I didn't like talking to journalists, but you had to do it.

"Now she is pulling out of the tournament altogether because she can't cope with it and that raises much bigger questions for me. If she can't cope with the media in Paris, she can't cope with the media in Wimbledon or the US Open. So I almost feel like her career is in danger due to mental health issues."

It is a view shared by many past and present tennis players – news conferences are part and parcel of the job. But are they?

"I think everyone would agree that is an important part of the job, but certainly not an essential part. The essential part of the job is performing as a player. But we cannot ask people to perform in circumstances where it's unsafe. It may be safe for some and unsafe for others," said Schwab.

"As in this case, there is an understanding that a particular player has a pre-condition or certain vulnerability, not to respond to that is inexcusable. It's certainly no defence to say it's safe for other people. That is why we need a real deep understanding of mental health.

"It's really important to see it as an occupational issue. A sporting place is not an ordinary workplace. It is a workplace which has heightened pressure. Therefore, the likelihood of there being adverse mental health impacts are greater. It's not going to affect everyone equally and sports bodies need to be smart enough to understand that fact."

Schwab added: "For Naomi's incredibly courageous stance here, there will be other players for which withdrawal is not an option and they will continue to face the workplace and pressures associated with that and therefore exacerbating the harm they're already experiencing."

The World Players Association is the leading voice of organised players in the governance of world sport. It brings together 85,000 players across professional sport through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries.

As mental health becomes more prevalent in a professional sports environment amid the growing physical and emotional demands, Schwab said: "What our Players Associations do is they run player development and wellbeing programmes. The more sophisticated of those programmes would actually have employees and experts who are engaged by the player associations but often based in the teams or club environment, so the players know they can access them, they are proximate to the players so they can access tailored advice and support.

"Mental health is one of those things but there are many other issues that players will have to deal with. The athletic career itself is short-term and precarious, so there is constant effort being made to ensure players are developing holistically, they're pursuing education and other opportunities."

As Schwab voiced his disapproval of the "blanket rule" to post-match commitments, the Australian shed light on how the World Players Association prepares athletes for the media.

"Certainly part of our development programmes, we will provide what we call induction programmes so that the players go through what they will expect in terms of their athletic career, so they can excel as athletes and in the job," he said. "Clearly, dealing with the media is a very important part of those programmes, but you have to be really careful to ensure this isn't a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Player associations have a common interest with sports bodies to maximise the interest in the sport and commercial viability so the players can share in their wealth, but the impact is dispiriting.

"If we look at the way players are being trained physically, physical loads are being tailored based on the individual athletic capacity of certain players. Physical health is not the only health and safety concern we have to be worried about. Players have different vulnerabilities in terms of mental health and therefore it makes absolute sense for sports bodies to tailor their commitments, so they don't unnecessarily expose more vulnerable players than others. A blanket rule, like in this case, where athletes feel vulnerable and are at risk of an adverse health consequence should not be imposed.

"I really do believe the tournament organisers, Roland Garros in particular, exacerbated that harm when they started to promote the fact that other players were comfortable to do the press conferences in order to put pressure on Naomi, and clearly that has proven to be incredibly counterproductive… if the starting point is not a recognition of their proactive duty to provide a safe workplace and that safe workplace means understanding the physical, mental and the wellbeing risks holistically and then tailoring for the particular needs of players individually, then these kind of problems will likely reoccur."

Serena Williams took the long route through to round three at the French Open as the veteran battled past Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu.

The American waved the chequered flag at the Monaco Grand Prix 10 days prior to this clash, but there will be no white flag in Paris yet from Williams who dug deep for a 6-3 5-7 6-1 win.

Three times a Roland Garros champion, Williams continued her search for more title-winning form on Court Philippe Chatrier, and a tricky clash with compatriot Danielle Collins will be next for the 39-year-old.

This win improved Williams' second-round record in grand slams to 74-2, her only defeats at this stage having come against sister Venus Williams when Serena made her debut in the majors at the 1998 Australian Open, and against Garbine Muguruza seven years ago at this tournament.

Williams controlled the opening set against Buzarnescu, but the Romanian world number 174 was a wily opponent and began to ask plenty of questions of the 23-time grand slam winner.

Having been as high as number 20 in the rankings, Buzarnescu was not intimidated. In 2018, she beat top-10 players Jelena Ostapenko and Elina Svitolina – twice, in Svitolina's case – and the 33-year-old broke to lead 4-2, with Williams recovering from 0-40 before netting a forehand followed by a backhand as the pressure told.

Williams broke back, yelling "Come on!" to rally herself, and she had two break chances again at 5-5, but could take neither.

Buzarnescu was the first to have a set point and an eye-catching cross-court backhand forced the decider.

Tension briefly filled the air but it soon drifted away, Williams taking command with an immediate break followed by another to lead 4-0, the decider going her way emphatically.

"She has a lot of skills," Williams said of Buzarnescu. "She plays really well on this surface in particular. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I'm excited to get through there. It was good competition."

DATA SLAM: LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN?

Williams lives to fight another day and perhaps a good workout will give her the confidence to come through battles that lie ahead. That record-equalling 24th slam remains a possibility this fortnight. Collins is next, a player Williams narrowly beat when they met at the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne earlier this year, their one previous meeting. Serena has won two of her previous grand slams as the seventh seed before – at the 1999 US Open and the 2005 Australian Open.

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Williams – 26/27
Buzarnescu – 25/28

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Williams – 5/2
Buzarnescu – 0/7

BREAK POINTS WON
Williams – 5/14
Buzarnescu – 2/7

Ashleigh Barty acknowledged it will be a "tough" week for her at the French Open as she plans to play through the pain at Roland Garros.

Barty – champion in Paris back in 2019 – had to take a medical time out during her first-round tie with Bernarda Pera on Tuesday.

The Australian world number one struggled with a hip issue, yet still progressed with a 6-4 3-6 6-2 win.

"It's going to be a little bit tough this week. I think over the weekend we had a bit of a flare-up through my left hip, which obviously just needed a bit of help today, needed some assistance to try and release it off as best I could," the 25-year-old said in her post-match news conference.

"I'm not going to hide behind the fact I'm not quite 100 per cent but I can guarantee that I will go out there with the right attitude every day and be really accepting of that and give it a crack no matter what.

"We're confident in that we can get my body to a point where I'm able to compete. We're here, we're fighting, we're in with a chance, and that's all we can do."

Magda Linette is next up for Barty on Thursday, the Polish player defeating Chloe Paquet in straight sets.

COCO CARRIES ON HER FORM AS SEEDS REACH ROUND TWO

Fresh from her triumph in both the singles and doubles in Parma, and a run to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia semi-finals, Coco Gauff started her campaign with a tough win over qualifier Aleksandra Krunic.

Gauff, the 24th seed, certainly had to do it the hard way, with the 17-year-old clawing back four set points in the opener, but some brilliant first serves – she landed 71 per cent of them – got her through in straight sets.

It brought up Gauff's first win at a grand slam as a seed. She is ranked at 25th in the world, making her the youngest American woman to make it into the top 25 since Serena Williams in 1998. 

Wang Qiang will face Gauff in round two in what is a repeat of the Parma final.

Meanwhile, three other big names also made it through. Former world number one and 2017 French Open semi-finalist Karolina Pliskova overcame her close friend Donna Vekic 7-5 6-4, while fellow Czech Karolina Muchova came from behind to beat Andrea Petkovic 1-6 6-3 6-4.

With Petkovic's exit, there are no female players from Germany in the second round at Roland Garros for the first time since 1958.

Fifth seed Elina Svitolina is also through to round two after coming back from a break down in the second set to beat teenager Oceane Babel 6-2 7-5.

"It's a first time for her to play here in the main draw of the grand slam and to face the sixth player in the world it's extremely tough," Svitolina said of her young opponent.

"I think she dealt very well with it and she went for her shots in the second set and made life very difficult for me."

SUAREZ NAVARRO MAKES COMEBACK

Carla Suarez Navarro overcame Hodgkin lymphoma earlier this year, after revealing last September that she had been diagnosed with the rare cancer.

Suarez Navarro won that battle and is now cancer free, but in what she said will be her last appearance at Roland Garros, she slipped to a defeat to 2018 finalist Sloane Stephens.

The Spaniard took the first set 6-3 and forced a tiebreaker in the second, but it was Stephens who edged it before taking that momentum into the decider to claim a 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win.

Naomi Osaka's decision to boycott mandatory media interviews at the French Open has left tennis legend Billie Jean King "torn".

Osaka revealed in the build-up to the second grand slam of the year that she would not partake in media duties, stating that "people have no regard for athletes' mental health" during news conferences.

The WTA – organisers of the women's tour – encouraged the Japanese superstar to reach out for support with her mental well-being but stressed she had a "responsibility" to her sport to honour contractual commitments.

The 23-year-old conducted an on-court interview after beating Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday but did not appear at the allotted time for her post-match media conference and was hit with a $15,000 by tournament organisers, who threatened further sanctions, including a possible suspension.

King, a 12-time grand slam singles champion, took to Twitter to outline her stance on what is proving to be a contentious issue.

"I fully admire and respect what Naomi is doing with her platform, so I am a little torn as I try to learn from both sides of the situation," wrote King, a co-founder of the WTA.

"While it's important that everyone has the right to speak their truth, I have always believed that as professional athletes we have a responsibility to make ourselves available to the media.

"In our day, without the press, nobody would have known who we are or what we thought. There is no question they helped build and grow our sport to what it is today.

"I acknowledge things are very different now with social media and everyone having an immediate ability to speak their truth.

"The media still play an important role in telling our story. There is no question that the media needs to respect certain boundaries.

"But at the end of the day it is important that we respect each other and we are in this together."

Osaka plays Ana Bogdan in round two on Wednesday.

Naomi Osaka has been fined and threatened with possible expulsion from the French Open after choosing not to take part in mandatory media interviews at the tournament.

Osaka declared her intentions in the build-up to the second grand slam of the year, stating that "people have no regard for athletes' mental health" during news conferences.

The WTA – organisers of the women's tour – encouraged the Japanese superstar to reach out for support with her mental well-being but stressed she had a "responsibility" to her sport to honour contractual commitments.

The 23-year-old conducted an on-court interview after beating Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday but did not appear at the allotted time for her post-match media conference.

Tournament organisers have fined Osaka $15,000 for breaching their code of conduct and warned she could be defaulted from the French Open – and face possible suspensions from other majors – should she continue a media blackout.

Osaka, holder of the US Open and Australian Open titles, has previously said any such fines should go towards a mental health charity.

A statement on the French Open's official website read: "Naomi Osaka announced last Wednesday on social media that she would not participate in the mandatory media interviews at Roland Garros 2021.

"Following this announcement, the Roland Garros teams asked her to reconsider her position and tried unsuccessfully to speak with her to check on her well-being, understand the specifics of her issue and what might be done to address it on site.

"Following the lack of engagement by Naomi Osaka, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open jointly wrote to her to check on her well-being and offer support, underline their commitment to all athletes' well-being and suggest dialogue on the issues. She was also reminded of her obligations, the consequences of not meeting them and that rules should equally apply to all players.

"Naomi Osaka today chose not to honour her contractual media obligations. The Roland Garros referee has therefore issued her a $15,000 fine, in keeping with article III H. of the code of conduct."

The statement went on to say: "We have advised Naomi Osaka that should she continue to ignore her media obligations during the tournament, she would be exposing herself to possible further code of conduct infringement consequences.

"As might be expected, repeat violations attract tougher sanctions including default from the tournament and the trigger of a major offence investigation that could lead to more substantial fines and future grand slam suspensions.

"We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement.

"As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honour their commitments."

The statement was co-signed by organisers from all four grand slams.

Barbora Krejcikova clinched a first Tour-level singles title of her career as she dispatched Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-3 in the final of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

World number 38 Krejcikova lost to Garbine Muguruza in the Dubai Tennis Championships final in March but suffered no such disappointment this time around, overcoming her Romanian opponent in one hour and 41 minutes.

Cirstea was in fine form this week following her Istanbul success, but the world number 61 was on the back foot from the off after losing her first two service games, offering up six break points in the process as Krejcikova reeled off four games in a row.

Krejcikova squandered two set points as Cirstea broke back, but the Czech took the lead at the third time of asking.

Cirstea rallied straight away in the second set, yet problems on her own serve continued as she suffered successive breaks and those errors ultimately handed Krejcikova an advantage she did not relinquish, with the 25-year-old sealing her maiden title with a powerful cross-court forehand.

Sorana Cirstea and Barbora Krejcikova will do battle in the Internationaux de Strasbourg final after overcoming tough tests in their respective semi-finals.

Handed a quarter-final walkover due to the withdrawal of top seed Bianca Andreescu due to injury earlier in the week, Cirstea fell behind to Poland's Magda Linette on Friday, but hit back to win 3-6 6-4 6-2.

Cirstea, world number 61, is in the hunt for her second title of the season after her success in Istanbul last month – a trophy that ended a barren run of over 12 years for the Romanian.

The 31-year-old will face stern competition from fifth seed Krejcikova, however.

Krejcikova is in the hunt for her maiden Tour-level triumph, after falling short at the final hurdle in Dubai in March.

She too needed three sets to claim a place in the final, with world number 216 Jule Niemeier pushing Krejcikova all the way.

However, the Czech – ranked at 38th in the world by the WTA – rallied after losing the first set 7-5.

Having clinically taken the three break points on offer to her in set two, Krejcikova broke for a final time to make it 4-3 in the decider – a lead she would not relinquish as she prevailed 5-7 6-3 6-4.

Paula Badosa continued her fine season with a victory at the Serbia Open, having also reached her maiden WTA singles final on Saturday.

Badosa had to play two matches on Saturday, first progressing to the final by beating lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 6-2.

The Spaniard's straight-sets win took only 63 minutes, so she still had plenty in reserve heading into the showdown with qualifier Ana Konjuh, but Badosa did ultimately not need the energy.

She was 6-2 2-0 up when Konjuh – who defeated Maria Camila Osorio Serrano earlier on Saturday – retired due to a right hip injury, sealing Badosa's triumph.

Badosa, 23, rounded off a successful week without having dropped a set. She had previously reached two semi-finals in her last two tournaments – in Charleston and Madrid, both against Ash Barty.

Coco Gauff was in superb form as she dispatched Wang Qiang 6-1 6-3 to win the Emilia-Romagna Open, the teenager's second career title.

Third seed Gauff needed just 74 minutes to seal a straight sets success, with her Chinese opponent unable to lay a glove on her.

The 17-year-old, who had previously won the 2019 Linz Open, enjoyed a run to the semi-finals at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia last week and looks in fine fettle heading to the French Open.

She dropped only one set during her charge at Parma, a triumph which takes her into the top 30 in the WTA rankings and ensures that she will be seeded for the French Open.

Gauff had won 19 of her last 25 WTA Tour matches heading into Saturday's contest, and had little trouble in making it 20.

A brief rally from Wang at the end of the start of the first set was not enough to stop Gauff, who saved all four of the break points she faced throughout the contest.

She now has the chance to complete a clean sweep in Parma, as she pairs with Caty McNally in the doubles final, against Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac.

Amanda Anisimova raced into the second round at the Emilia-Romagna Open, where she could now face wildcard Venus Williams.

Venus and Serena Williams have each entered the event in Parma to prepare for the French Open, although Bianca Andreescu has been forced to withdraw.

Both Williams sisters have qualifiers in their openers at the start of next week, but Venus – absent in Rome with a knee injury – already knows tricky teenager Anisimova lies in wait beyond that.

Anisimova was a force in the 2019 clay-court season, then just 17 but winning the Copa Colsanitas – still her sole WTA Tour title – before beating Simona Halep at Roland Garros to reach the French Open semi-finals.

A return to the red dirt in 2020 yielded only three wins, though, two of them at the major before Halep gained revenge, and this season has been similarly testing.

But fifth seed Anisimova eased through her opener on Sunday, beating home hopeful Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-1 in just shy of an hour.

Daria Kasatkina, the number four seed, could also face a grand slam winner in round two, with Sloane Stephens – the 2017 US Open champion – potentially her prize after seeing off Hsieh Su-wei in straight sets.

Qiang Wang had to come through three sets but ensured there were no upsets on day one as she defeated Misaki Doi 6-2 5-7 6-1.

Ash Barty will meet Aryna Sabalenka in the Stuttgart Open final after Simona Halep's quest to win the tournament for the first time fell short.

World number three Halep had claimed straight-set wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Marketa Vondrousova en route to the semi-finals, but met her match in the form of Belarusian Sabalenka, who triumphed 6-3 6-2.

A nine-time singles champion, Sabalenka made it into a 14th career final without conceding a single break, as she managed to keep Romanian Halep at arm's length.

Standing between Sabalenka and a 10th singles title is world number one Barty who, on her 25th birthday, came from behind to defeat Elina Svitolina 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.

Making her tournament debut in Stuttgart, Barty had overcome Laura Siegemund and Karolina Pliskova, but found herself at 5-4 down in the second set, with Svitolina serving for the match.

The fourth seed failed to take her chance, with Barty breaking and subsequently biting back in the tie-break, before carrying the momentum into the decider to claim a third straight win over Svitolina.

Top seed Elise Mertens made it to her second Istanbul Open as she saw off her doubles partner and birthday girl Veronika Kudermetova 6-1 6-4.

It means Mertens will be playing in two finals on Sunday, as she pairs up with Kudermetova again in the doubles showdown against Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya.

Mertens' win ended Charleston champion Kudermetova's nine-match winning streak, and set up a final against the unseeded Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-4 6-4.

Simona Halep started her clay-court season in style at the Stuttgart Open as she saw off Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets on Thursday.

Second seed Halep is hunting her first appearance in a Stuttgart final, and she looked in fine form as she took just 56 minutes to dismiss Vondrousova 6-1 6-3.

Vondrousova – the 2019 French Open runner up – had won both of her previous meetings with Halep, but on this occasion she was no match for the world number three, who has won every major European clay-court tournament other than Stuttgart.

"Starting the clay-court season makes me very happy and motivated, extra motivated actually," Halep said in a post-match news conference.

"I missed playing matches. I had a few weeks without an official match and it was kind of tough when I started the match, but my mind was strong enough just to give focus on what I have to play. So, I did it great and today it was a great match.

"I was a little bit nervous before the match because I played twice against her and she beat me every time.

"It is important for my mind, for my game, because the clay-court season is going to be very tough. Now this match gave me confidence that my level is high, and if I keep doing the same thing, I will be good."

Facing Halep in the quarter-finals will be Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated world number 12 Belinda Bencic, and joining them in the final eight is Elina Svitolina, who defeated Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Two-time Stuttgart champion Kerber and Svitolina had faced off 13 times before Thursday's contest, and the Ukrainian is now 9-5 up in that head-to-head tussle.

While Aryna Sabalenka also progressed, Karolina Pliskova teed up a clash with top seed Ash Barty by coming from behind to beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-3.

At the Istanbul Open, top seed Elise Mertens also needed three sets to forge a path into the last night.

Mertens had to show her mettle in a contest which lasted over two hours, but she eventually got the better of Viktorija Golubic 6-4 4-6 6-1.

Veronika Kudermetova also made the last eight, as did Ana Bogdan, who fended off Barbora Kreijcova, while Fiona Ferro defeated Vera Zvonareva.

World number one Ash Barty has been knocked out of the Charleston Open after a straight-sets loss to unseeded Spaniard Paula Badosa in Friday's quarter-finals.

Badosa won 6-4 6-3 over the favoured Australian in one hour, 16 minutes to book a spot in the last four on the green clay and a meeting with 15th seed Veronika Kudermetova.

Kudermetova beat 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-4 in her first win over a grand slam winner.

Former French Open junior champion Badosa, who beat fifth seed Belinda Bencic in the second round, claimed her second career victory over a top-20 player against Barty.

Barty may have hit 34 to 19 winners but she also made twice as many unforced errors, 24 to 12.

The Spaniard broke Barty's serve five times while she sent down seven aces and saved 12 of 14 break points.

"I was quite nervous today but I think I served very well and I think that was the key for the match," Badosa said in her on-court interview.

"It was a tough match but I was there until the last moment and I managed to win."

World number 71 Badosa becomes the lowest-ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019.

The Australian had won eight matches in a row after last week's triumph at the Miami Open.

Unseeded Montenegrin Danka Kovinic came from a set down to topple 11th seed Yulia Putintseva 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-1.

Kovinic, who knocked out Petra Kvitova in the third round, will play 12th seed Ons Jabeur in the semi-finals after she overcame Coco Gauff 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, at the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, fifth Tamara Zidansek beat Italy's Sara Errani 6-3 6-4 to claim a spot in the semi-finals.

Viktoriya Tomova outlasted qualifier Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 5-7 6-2 6-4 in almost two and a half hours, while Harmony Tan and local wildcard Maria Camila Osorio Serrano also won.

Garbine Muguruza continued her superb start to 2021 as the former world number one won a WTA Tour-leading 21st match of the season to progress at the Volvo Car Open.

Muguruza – the sixth seed in Charleston – dispatched qualifier Magdalena Frech 6-1 6-3 in her first match of the clay court season on Tuesday.

Two-time grand slam champion Muguruza has already reached three finals this year, winning once in Dubai, and took just 70 minutes to overcome Fech on her return to Charleston following an eight-year absence. 

"I'm happy that I got this win, that I fought hard, that I kept my fighting spirit through the whole match, also in the second set which was tighter than the first set," Muguruza told reporters, in quotes reported on the WTA's official website.

Joining Muguruza in the round of 16 is third seed and fellow former grand slam champion Petra Kvitova, who saw off Storm Sanders 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 in her first-ever match at the WTA Premier tournament. 

Meanwhile, two former Charleston champions will go head-to-head after Sloane Stephens – a winner in 2016 – beat lucky loser Xinyu Wang 6-2 6-4 to tee up a second-round tie with 2019 victor Madison Keys.

Shelby Rogers took advantage of being in familiar surroundings by seeing off Kristina Mladenovic, while Monterrey Open champion Leylah Fernandez also progressed at the expense of 16th seed Shuai Zhang.

As for American sensation Coco Gauff, the 14th seed beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-0 en route to the last 32.

There was a first-round surprise at the Colsanitas Cup in Bogota, where second seed Sara Sorribes Tormo was upstaged by 2012 French Open runner-up Sara Errani 7-5 7-5.

Colombian youngster Maria Camila Osorio got the better of American Sachia Vickery 6-3 6-2, with a potential top-100 scalp of Tereza Martincova next in her sights.

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