Aryna Sabalenka yesterday said that she tried to “stop thinking” about her serve and it worked well, with the world No. 2’s woeful double fault count improving as she stayed in contention at the Australian Open.
The Belarusian had tallied 31 double faults in two matches at Melbourne Park going into her match against Marketa Vondrousova on Margaret Court Arena, and 70 from four matches this season, but only hit 10 yesterday.
It helped her beat the Czech 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and ensure passage to the last 16, where she faces unseeded Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi, who overpowered Australian wildcard Madison Inglis 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Photo: AFP
“I was just trying to not really focus on my serve. Just trying to forget about my serve, and that was working today,” said Sabalenka, a semi-finalist last year at Wimbledon and the US Open. “I think it’s more mental, because I put a lot of pressure on myself about my serve, and the last matches I was trying to control everything on my serve — my legs, my arm, the ball toss. And it was overthinking.”
“I just stopped thinking. Like today, I was focusing only on the good jump and that’s it,” she said.
Despite her serving yips, Sabalenka found a way to survive her opening two rounds against players ranked in triple digits thanks to her explosive all-court ability.
She brought that to the fore again against Vondrousova after early wobbles.
On a hot day with ice packs out at the changeovers, Vondrousova took a 5-3 lead in the first set, and while Sabalenka only sent down four double faults, she could not turn it around.
Sabalenka also lost the first set in her opening two rounds, but found a way back and the 23-year-old responded with the same fighting spirit, immediately breaking the Czech to race 3-0 clear in the second.
She held firm, firing just three double faults, to seal the set and turned up the pressure on Vondrousova with an early break to move 3-1 clear in the third.
Two more breaks enabled her to romp to victory.
“Feels like I’m warming up in the first set and then I start playing,” she said with a smile.
“I really want to win it in two sets, and I think that’s why I’m getting so emotional in the first set, and that’s why I’m over-trying and I’m missing a lot,” Sabalenka added.
“And after the first set when you’re losing, you’re kind of: ‘Okay, maybe I don’t have to overhit it or to panic.’ So maybe that’s why,” she said.
The other winners in the women’s singles were: Simona Halep, Danielle Collins, Alize Cornet, Elise Mertens, Iga Swiatek and Sorana Cirstea.
In the men’s singles, world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas did not drop a service game, despite losing a set, as he overcame Benoit Paire to reach the fourth round.
The Greek seemed on course for a straight-sets win, but decisively lost a tiebreak to the Frenchman before going on to see out victory 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 in 2 hours, 42 minutes on a steamy Rod Laver Arena.
Tsitsipas faces Taylor Fritz for a place in the quarter-finals after the American overcame Spanish 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“I’m pretty glad with the win. Benoit is one of the biggest talents in our game, he has a lot of feel for the game,” Tsitsipas said of his French opponent, who is ranked 56th in the world.
“It was a very important victory for me today and also very special to be playing on this arena and sharing that with the crowd,” he said.
However, Tsitsipas appeared not to realize the game was over after he had converted match point.
Paire dunked a forehand into the net on the first of three match points when serving to stay in the match, but Tsitsipas walked to the back of the court rather than approach the net.
The Greek turned around at the baseline with a look of surprise on his face, before walking forward to acknowledge Paire.
The others in the men’s singles to advance were: Daniil Medvedev, Maxime Cressy, Felix Auger Aliassime, Marin Cilic, Alex de Minaur and Jannik Sinner.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS