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 was in the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, where she lost in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova.

"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.

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 drew level at 3-3.

The pair exchanged breaks at the start of the second set before Dart seized the upper hand to level at 1-1.

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 broke Dart's serve.

"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."

Dart reached a career high of 70th in the world in 2024, having made the Wimbledon third round and US Open second round, but has been languishing outside the top 100 for the vast majority of the past two seasons.

The run from Guangzhou qualifying to the last four puts her on the cusp of the top 100 once again, meaning she has a good chance of going straight into the main draw of the Australian Open in January without needing to qualify.

That would be rich reward for a superb second half to the season, where she has struck the ball consistently well and continued to grow in confidence.

The pair live close to each other and began working together earlier this year. Dart has enjoyed soaking up the knowledge and experience imparted by the French former world number seven in their ad hoc coaching partnership.

The arrangement has helped Dart win 17 of her 22 tour-level matches on the hard courts since Wimbledon, taking her overall record on the WTA Tour this season to 21 victories from 32 matches - the highest winning percentage of her career.