She was defeated by Hailey Baptiste with 2:6, 6:2, 7:6. This is only the second defeat for the Belarusian since the beginning of the year. However, in the final of the Australian Open, she was defeated by Elena Ribakina, the second player in the world. Now she was knocked out by the 32nd in the world, who has not yet won a tournament in her career.
Sabalenka, on the other hand, has won three of the four she has played since the beginning of the year.
She won Brisbane and the Masters in Indian Wells and Miami. In the aforementioned Melbourne, she reached the final, where she suffered her only defeat this year so far. Until the shocking elimination against Baptista, she had a score of 23:1.
What makes the defeat especially incredible is that it came after Sabalenka dropped as many as six match points. In addition, Sabalenka routinely took the first set (6:2) and everything indicated that another victory would be very easy.
However, the American did not give up. She retaliated in kind, made two breaks and celebrated with an identical score, so the decision had to be decided in the decisive third set.
In the tenth game, Sabalenka had as many as five match points on her opponent’s serve, but Baptiste resisted all the Belarusian’s attacks and reached the tie-break. Sabalenka had a match point there as well, and when she didn’t use the sixth, Baptiste had and used the first and made a big sensation in the quarterfinals of the Masters.
(Vijesti.ba)
