Harriet Dart Knocks Out Fifth Seed Badosa to Reach Guangzhou Semi-Final

Harriet Dart has reached the second WTA Tour semi-final of her career. She beat fifth seed Paula Badosa 3-6 6-2 6-4 at the Guangzhou Open in China. A seed is a top-ranked player placed in the draw so that the best players do not meet early.

The match lasted two hours and 15 minutes at the Nansha International Tennis Centre, according to BBC Sport. Badosa took the first set 6-3. Dart then won the next two, and the match turned on the ability to hold her nerve in the big moments.

Badosa was ranked 61st in the world, 54 places above Dart. That gap made the result a clear upset on paper. Dart raced to a 3-0 lead in the deciding set and kept her advantage to the end.

Reuters reported that Dart served seven aces, the serves that the opponent cannot touch. She also saved six of nine break points. A break point is a chance for one player to win the other's service game, so saving them was the key to Dart's win.

Badosa needed two medical timeouts during the match, pauses in play so that she could be treated. The timeouts did not stop Dart from closing out the match.

Dart's run started in qualifying, the tournament rounds that give outside players a chance to reach the main draw. She then beat second seed Janice Tjen in the previous round before facing Badosa.

Her first semi-final on the tour came at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, where she lost to Karolina Pliskova in straight sets. That was in 2024, and this is her second time at this stage.

Her next opponent will be either Claire Liu or Sun Xinran, and that semi-final is on Saturday. Sun is 16 years old and came into the event as a wildcard, a place handed out by the tournament rather than earned through the rankings. She reached the quarter-final by beating Timofeeva from match point down, one point away from losing.

Dart's win means she will play a semi-final on Saturday with a place in the final at stake.