Anna Kalinskaya beat Paula Badosa in straight sets at the Charleston Open, advancing to her first quarterfinal there. During match point, her dog Bella barked from the player's box, prompting laughter. Kalinskaya joked that Bella is her coach and boss.
At Credit One Stadium in Charleston, Anna Kalinskaya secured a straight-sets victory over Paula Badosa on Thursday, setting up a quarterfinal clash with Iva Jovic. As Kalinskaya reached match point, a bark echoed from her player's box. Her dachshund, Bella, interrupted the tense moment, drawing smiles from the crowd and the player herself. Bella even holds a player's box card with a paw print, marking her as part of Team Kalinskaya. Kalinskaya has a history of such endearing moments with her pet, including Bella dashing onto the court after last year's Citi Open quarterfinal and acting as a ball girl during a US Open warmup against Iga Swiatek. In a post-match interview, when asked about the bark, Kalinskaya replied, “She’s my coach. She’s my boss.” The 27-year-old now faces 18-year-old American Iva Jovic, the world No. 16 and a 2026 breakout star who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals as the youngest American there since Venus Williams in 1998. Jovic said earlier this week, “It’s crazy to be in the position that I’m in, because I don’t feel that I’m close to maximizing myself yet, but I realistically didn’t think that I would get here honestly.” She advanced by beating Alycia Parks 6-3, 6-2 and Sofia Kenin 7-5, 7-5. Kalinskaya relies on flat, penetrating groundstrokes, while Jovic offers all-court baseline play with strong defense, modeled after Jessica Pegula, Belinda Bencic, and Bianca Andreescu. The winner will next face either defending champion Jessica Pegula or Diana Shnaider.