Britain’s Harriet Dart reached the second WTA Tour semi-final of her career when she fought back from a set down to defeat 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—who is ranked 54 places above her—in a match lasting two hours and 15 minutes at the Nansha International Tennis Centre.
Road to the Semi-Finals
Dart’s previous and only other appearance in the semi-finals of a tour event came at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, where she fell in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova. Having advanced through the qualifying rounds and defeated second-seed Janice Tjen in the previous round, Dart faced a tough challenge against Badosa.
After losing her opening service game in the first set, Dart broke back to level at 3-3. However, former world number two Badosa broke Dart’s serve again to take a 5-3 lead and held serve to secure the opening set. The players exchanged early breaks in the second set before Dart took control to level the match.
Badosa, who called for two medical timeouts during the match while appearing to struggle with the heat, saved a match point at 5-3 in the deciding set and broke Dart’s serve. Yet the Spaniard, ranked 61st in the world, ran out of energy in her next service game, allowing Dart to win it to love and seal the victory.
“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 told BBC Sport, adding that tennis is very stressful and she appreciates the opportunity to compete again.
“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 said as reported by BBC Sport. “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.”
Resurgence and Coaching Partnership
Dart reached a career-high ranking of 70th in the world in 2024 after reaching the Wimbledon third round and the US Open second round, but she has spent the majority of the past two seasons outside the top 100. Her deep run from the Guangzhou qualifying rounds to the final four brings her to the edge of the top 100 once again, offering a strong chance of securing direct entry into the main draw of the Australian Open in January without needing to qualify.
A significant factor in Dart’s recent resurgence has been her ad hoc coaching partnership with former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. The two players live close to each other and began working together earlier this year, with Dart absorbing the experience of the French former world number seven and benefiting from Bartoli hitting strong balls during practice sessions.
This collaboration has helped Dart win 17 of her 22 tour-level hard-court matches since Wimbledon, bringing her total record on the WTA Tour this season to 21 wins from 32 matches, marking the highest winning percentage of her career.
Dart is scheduled to face 16-year-old Chinese wildcard Sun Xinran in the last four on Saturday.
