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
Politicians are meant to kiss babies, not crash into children, but on the campaign trail yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison barrelled into a young boy during a friendly kickaround, eliciting a chorus of stunned “ooohs” and “aaaws” from spectators. Morrison was playing five-a-side soccer in northern Tasmania, where he is trawling for votes ahead of Saturday’s election. At first, Morrison — shorn of his jacket, but still sporting a shirt and tie — sauntered around the field somewhat aimlessly, trying to get a toe on the ball here and there as it ping-ponged from boy to boy. However, then the 54-year-old stepped
Being shot in both eyes and completely blinded did not stop Zion Ricks-Gaines from skateboarding. It made him want to do it even more. “I still want to go pro, I still want to accomplish being a professional skateboarder,” the 19-year-old said as he readied a kickflip at a skate park in San Francisco. He wants to share that enthusiasm with everyone he meets. “I want to start more skate after-school programs for students. I feel like I wouldn’t have really looked in that direction if I had my sight,” he said. Ricks-Gaines’ life was derailed outside a bar late last year when a
Taiwan’s Chuang Chih-yuan on Sunday clinched the men’s singles title at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Feeder Westchester tournament in New York state after defeating Benedikt Duda of Germany in the final. Chuang, 41, known as Taiwan’s “godfather of table tennis,” edged out 25-year-old Duda 3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7 in 55 minutes, 54 seconds at the Westchester Table Tennis Center. The win was Chuang’s first men’s singles title since he won the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Hungarian Open in Budapest in 2016. It was his second title in Westchester following a victory in the mixed doubles final with
TATUM STEPS UP: The Boston Celtics forced Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks, with Jayson Tatum outdueling Giannis Antetokounmpo with the season on the line The Golden State Warriors on Friday grabbed 70 rebounds on the way to eliminating the Memphis Grizzlies 110-86 to advances to face either the Phoenix Suns or the Dallas Mavericks in a best-of-seven battle for the West. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are cherishing this playoff run a little more given that they spent the past two years watching the post-season instead of in their familiar position of chasing championships. Now, with those experienced faces and a cast of new stars, the Warriors are headed to another Western Conference Finals and need just four more wins to give themselves a