No.5 seed Paula Badosa continued her strong form on U.S. hard courts with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Yulia Putintseva in the third round of the Miami Open.

Badosa, who is fresh off a run to the Indian Wells semifinals, first made the third round of Miami on her WTA main draw debut in 2015. Seven years on, the Spaniard sealed her fourth-round debut in 1 hour and 21 minutes, extending her overall 2022 record to 15-5. She is now assured of making her Top 3 debut next Monday.

Afterwards, Badosa underlined the importance of doing her homework.

"I played against her a few months ago so I knew it was a very physical and tactical match," she said. "I studied her a little bit to know where she's going to throw the ball."

Match management: The straightforward scoreline belies the closeness of the match. Most passages of play were evenly contested, with Putintseva's ability to put the ball into awkward positions while on defense drawing repeated errors from Badosa.

But ultimately it was Badosa's own tenacity that won the day. In longer rallies, Putintseva would generally end up going for the more ambitious winners, but rarely found the power to hit through Badosa's defence; the Kazakh leaked an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors, particularly on finishing shots, as a result. In shorter rallies, Badosa had a substantial edge, racking up service winners and one-two punches.

Badosa's resilience was also demonstrated by her capacity to deal with scoreboard pressure. There were four multi-deuce games over the course of the match, and she won each one. All came at important junctures: breaking Putintseva for 4-3 in the first set; two consecutive games to overturn an early break deficit in the second set; and a hold for 5-2 to tighten her grip of momentum.

What's next for Badosa: A fourth-round clash with either three-time champion and No.12 seed Victoria Azarenka, or 16-year-old wildcard Linda Fruhvirtova.

Miami: Badosa defeats Putintseva to make last-16 debut

Kudermetova reaches second straight WTA 1000 fourth round

Last week, No.21 seed Veronika Kudermetova hit a significant career milestone by reaching her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Indian Wells. She backed that up with a 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Shelby Rogers to reach a second consecutive Round of 16.

Highlights: Kudermetova d. Rogers

The 15 aces with which Rogers had upset No.10 seed Jelena Ostapenko in the previous round were nowhere to be seen. The American found only one against Kudermetova, but committed three double faults, including one to concede an error-strewn first set.

Rogers' serving improved in the second set, but Kudermetova held on to the momentum with solid baseline play and some sweet volleying. The 24-year-old converted her first match point as Rogers sent a forehand wide, and will play either No.28 seed Petra Kvitova or qualifier Lauren Davis in the fourth round.