Dart stuns Badosa to make second career semi-final

Britain’s Harriet Dart reached the second WTA Tour semi-final of her career when she fought back from a set down to beat fifth seed Paula Badosa at the Guangzhou Open in China.

The 30-year-old triumphed 3-6 6-2 6-4 against Spain’s Badosa – ranked 54 places above her – in two hours and 15 minutes at Nansha International Tennis Centre.

Dart’s first appearance in the semi-finals of a tour event came at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, where she lost in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova.

She will face either American Claire Liu or 16-year-old Chinese wildcard Sun Xinran in the last four on Saturday.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve been in the business end of the tournament so I am really excited for that,” Dart said.

“Tennis is so stressful, so to have the opportunity to compete again on Saturday is a great opportunity for me.”

Dart, who came through qualifying and beat second-seed Janice Tjen in the previous round, lost her opening service game in the first set but broke back and draw level at 3-3.

However, Badosa broke Dart’s serve again to take a 5-3 lead and held her serve to close out the set.

The pair exchanged breaks at the start of the second set before Dart seized the upper hand to clinch the set.

Badosa, who required two medical timeouts during the match as she appeared to struggle with the heat, saved a match point at 5-3 in the deciding set and then breaking Dart’s serve.

But the Spaniard, ranked 61st in the world, was running on empty in her next service game, as Dart won it to love.

“It was an incredible battle. I thought Paula started really strongly. I was always behind, and knew it was going to be an incredibly tough match,” Dart added.

“I really needed to hang in there during the tough moments and wait for a chance. Luckily I was able to take my chance, and I am very excited to be in the semi-finals.”