Tag: Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a first French Open title was left in tatters as she fell apart in a bizarre defeat by Russian 25th seed Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

The world number one led by a set and a double-break before exiting the tournament in a blaze of unforced errors, collapsing to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss in blustery conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Shnaider will face Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in the semi-finals on Thursday, with Marta Kostyuk or Mirra Andreeva awaiting the winner in Sunday’s final.

“Well honestly I’m speechless, I’m super happy. Obviously tough conditions with the wind,” said the 22-year-old Shnaider after beating a top-10 player for only the second time in her career.

“First time playing Aryna so definitely a lot of nerves and I feel the first set was trying to adjust to her game.”

Sabalenka was the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws at Roland Garros, but belied that status by making a whopping 57 unforced errors.

Shnaider was playing in her first major quarter-final, but now finds herself a strong favourite to reach the final heading into her last-four tie against world number 114 and fellow left-hander Chwalinska.

“Definitely super happy I managed to finish on a good note rather than start on a good note. Definitely a special tournament for me here,” added the Russian.

“It’s going be a lefty battle so I’m looking forward (to the semi-final).”

Sabalenka’s scarcely believable defeat was reminiscent of the way she threw away a strong position in last year’s final against Coco Gauff.

The Belarusian was playing in a 14th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final but failed to become the first woman to make seven straight major semis since Serena Williams.

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The top seed raced into a 5-1 lead and eventually sealed the opener on her third set point after initially failing to serve it out.

The second set followed a similar pattern at first, as Sabalenka moved 4-1 in front with a double-break before throwing away her next service game.

Sabalenka became increasingly frustrated as she gifted Shnaider three break points to level at 4-4.

After some animated remonstrating with her box, she recomposed herself enough to hold.

But the 28-year-old’s game continued to come apart, as a string of dreadful unforced errors allowed Shnaider to break again and tie up the set at 5-5, with Sabalenka left to gesticulate wildly towards her coaching staff.

Shnaider could not believe her luck as Sabalenka dumped successive forehands into the bottom of the net to finish off the set and send the match into a decider.

The Russian grew in confidence and moved 2-0 up in the third as Sabalenka sprayed eight unforced errors around Chatrier in the space of two games.

Shnaider cruised to victory from there, fittingly securing a semi-final berth when Sabalenka knocked a routine backhand into the net on the third match point.

A stunned world number one was left to trudge off court after winning just 14 points in the deciding set.

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World number one Aryna Sabalenka took down fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets in Monday’s night-session match to reach the French Open quarter-finals.

Sabalenka produced an impressive display, hitting 39 winners and 12 aces, against a battling Osaka to win 7-5, 6-3 and reach the last eight for a 14th consecutive major tournament.

The Belarusian is the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws at Roland Garros.

She made it three straight wins against Osaka this year, having lost their only previous meeting at the 2018 US Open.

Sabalenka will next take on Russian Diana Shnaider as she continues her bid for a maiden French Open crown and to banish the memories of her painful final defeat last year by Coco Gauff.

Japanese star Osaka, again sporting the sequined gold dress she likened to the Eiffel Tower at night, has to make do with her best-ever run in Paris, ending in the last 16.

It was the first women’s match to feature in the French Open night session since 2023, after a run of 32 consecutive men’s ties which drew repeated criticism of tournament organisers.

Aryna Sabalenka has previously criticised the lack of women’s matches under the lights, saying last year that the WTA stars “deserve equal treatment” to the men.

“I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions,” she said Monday.

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The players traded early breaks in a power-packed opening, before Sabalenka levelled the first set at 2-2 with a service hold featuring three aces, the last with a second serve.

The set stayed on serve until the 11th game, when Sabalenka made her move with a blistering backhand winner to bring up two break points, with Osaka netting on the first.

The top seed closed it out in style with a ruthless hold to love.

Osaka gamely managed to hang onto her serve early in the second set, staving off a break point in a marathon game to lead 3-2.

Sabalenka had only dropped six points in her previous seven service games, but was pushed hard by Osaka in game six before eventually holding with a clever drop-shot.

That proved to be a crucial moment, as Osaka’s resistance was finally broken in the next game, a brilliant low volley at the net helping Sabalenka put one foot into the quarters.

An Osaka double-fault brought up match point two games later, and Sabalenka sealed victory with a brutal return.

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Aryna Sabalenka opened her Roland Garros campaign with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Tuesday.

The world number one overcame the sweltering conditions to book her spot in the round of 64 in just over 75 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The only blip for the four-time Grand Slam champion as she returned to winning ways on clay after a surprise early exit from the Italian Open was her failure to serve out the win, but she promptly broke the world number 50 in the next game before rubbing an ice bag over her face and exiting the court.

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“Happy to be back, thank you for the support. It’s a hot day, thank you so much for staying and don’t forget guys, stay hydrated,” Sabalenka told the spectators on centre court as a heatwave continues to roll over Paris for the start of the tournament.

“I think we all feel pressure… But I’m used to it so I know how to ignore (it),” the Belarusian top seed added as she began her latest attempt at winning a first title at the French Open.

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Aryna Sabalenka breezed into the third round of the Italian Open on Thursday with a straight-sets win over Barbora Krejcikova, 6-2, 6-3.

World number one and favourite for the women’s title in the Italian capital, Sabalenka took one hour and 25 minutes to see off Czech Krejcikova in the final match of the day on centre court.

Sabalenka has never won the Italian Open. Her run to the final two years ago, when she was lost to Iga Swiatek, was her best result.

But with the French Open around the corner, the Belarusian made no mistake against Krejcikova, a former Wimbledon and French Open champion.

Sabalenka lost the first game on her serve, but from there comfortably dealt with Krejcikova to set up a match with Sorana Cirstea in the next round.

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“I’m super happy to be through. She’s a great player. We had a lot of tough matches in the past,” Sabalenka said on court. “I’m of course happy with the level I played and to get this tough win.”

The top seed is on the same side of the draw as Coco Gauff, who beat Sabalenka in last year’s French Open final and made short work of Tereza Valentova in her opening match of the tournament.

American star Gauff beat Valentova 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 34 minutes in front of a sparsely-populated centre court, and will play Argentine Solana Sierra in the next round.

Earlier, Jasmine Paolini launched her title defence by battling back from a set down to beat France’s Leolia Jeanjean 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4.

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World number one Aryna Sabalenka said Tuesday she was ready to boycott the Grand Slam tournaments in order to have a greater share of the prize money.

“I feel like the show is on us. Without us there wouldn’t be a tournament and there wouldn’t be that entertainment,” the four-time Grand Slam winner told a press conference at the Italian Open.

“I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage.

“I think at some point we will boycott. I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.

“We girls can easily get together and go for this because some of the things I feel like it’s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it’s going to get to this.”

Last year almost all the leading players signed two letters to the four Grand Slam bosses demanding an increase in prize money, payments into a player welfare fund to improve retirement and maternity benefits, as well as involvement in decisions that affected them.

The letters set a target of a 22-percent share in tournament revenue, which would bring the majors in line with the nine combined 1000-level events run by the ATP men’s tour and the women’s WTA tour.

However Poland’s Iga Swiatek, a four-time French Open singles champion, believes boycotting tournaments “is a bit extreme”.

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“I think the most important thing honestly is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate,” said Swiatek, who has also won Wimbledon and the US Open.

“Hopefully before Roland Garros there’s going to be an opportunity to have these type of meetings and we’ll see how they go.”

On Monday, players said in a statement that an announcement by the French Open last month of a 9.5-percent prize money rise was not good enough.

It said that last year Roland Garros generated 395 million euros ($463 mn), a 14-percent increase.

However the total purse went up by just 5.4 percent, reducing player share of revenue to 14.3 percent.

It estimated that this year’s revenues would pass 400 mn euros, leaving the player cut still below 15 percent.

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Hailey Baptiste defeated defending champion Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday to halt the world number one’s 15-match winning streak with a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) victory in the Madrid Open quarter-final to deliver the biggest shock of the tournament so far.

The American saved five match points at 4-5 in the decider and a sixth in the tiebreak before she handed Sabalenka just her second defeat of the year, and her first since the Australian Open final three months ago.

Sabalenka is a three-time champion in Madrid and reached the final in the Spanish capital in each of the last three editions of the event, but was unable to shake off the 30th-seeded Baptiste, who peppered her with huge serves and ultra-aggressive groundstrokes to reach a maiden WTA 1000 semi-final.

Baptiste came up with huge serves in several crucial moments, finishing the duel with a total of 12 aces and 10 double faults, and even saved a match point with a bold serve-and-volley approach on her way to a memorable two-hour 30-minute triumph.

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Next up for the 24-year-old Baptiste is ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, who gave herself an early birthday gift by defeating Canadian Leylah Fernandez 7-6(7/1), 6-3 to reach her first Madrid semi-final.

The Russian teenager, who turns 19 on Wednesday, was a recent champion in Linz and improved her clay-court record to 11-1 this season.

Earlier in the day, Jannik Sinner suggested the Madrid Open organisers should reconsider their tournament scheduling to avoid late-night finishes like the one Rafael Jodar experienced in the third round on Sunday.

In a rare 11:00 am start on Tuesday, Sinner moved past British 19th seed Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.

He explained that he was scheduled first at Manolo Santana Stadium so that Jodar, his potential next opponent, would be scheduled in the afternoon, giving the Spaniard time to recover from his three-set win over Joao Fonseca, which ended at 1:00 am on Monday morning.

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World number one Aryna Sabalenka overcame Naomi Osaka 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-2 in a gripping battle on Monday to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals.

Sabalenka, who has claimed titles at Miami, Indian Wells and Brisbane this year, was tested by her Japanese opponent but came back from a set and a break down to triumph.

“I’m really happy that I didn’t give up and I was pushing until the very last point,” said Sabalenka on court.

She later told reporters: “When (she) put me under pressure, I was able to pull out really incredible shots and incredible tennis. So I’m happy.”

The first set between the two four-time Grand Slam winners was tight, with only one break point forced by Sabalenka, which Osaka saved to hold for 2-1.

Osaka dominated in the tie-break, ripping into a 5-0 lead and then triumphing when Sabalenka lashed a return wide.

Reigning champion Sabalenka stepped up a gear in the second frame, although world number 15 Osaka dug deep to survive three break points and then managed to engineer a break for herself to take a 2-1 lead.

However, the Belarusian immediately broke to love and then again in the eighth game, serving out to take the second set.

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Only Elena Rybakina has beaten Sabalenka this year, in the Australian Open final, and the 27-year-old dominated in the third set, securing breaks in the fifth and seventh games while Osaka could not put pressure on her opponent’s serve.

Sabalenka sealed her victory by serving to love with an ace to reach the last eight, where she will face American Hailey Baptiste, who beat Belinda Bencic in three sets, including losing a tie-break 16-14 in the second.

Osaka said she was happy with pushing Sabalenka to the wire after going down in straight sets when they met at Indian Wells.

“I feel like every game was super close. I think… I could potentially match her in power,” said Osaka.

“I feel like in Indian Wells I was a little overwhelmed. Here I did a little bit better.

“Obviously she’s the number one player in the world, so it was a really cool match for me to know that I’m kind of there.”

World number three Gauff, who had been dealing with a stomach bug this week, fell to a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/5) defeat by Noskova.

The Czech earned a decisive break in the fifth game of the first set, but American Gauff secured two of her own to claim the second.

Gauff moved two breaks up in the third but let the match slip away from her as Noskova pulled back to level 4-4.

The American led 3-0 in the tie-break before again she could not hold on.

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World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday pulled out of next week’s Stuttgart Open, citing an injury sustained at the Miami Open in March.

The Belarusian wrote on social media that she had failed to recover in time for the clay court tournament, which starts on Monday.

“I’m very sad to say that I won’t be able to play the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix this year,” Sabalenka wrote in an Instagram story on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, I suffered an injury after Miami, and even though I tried everything to recover in time, I’m not ready to compete.

“I’m really sorry to miss this amazing tournament. Wishing everyone a great week in Stuttgart, and I hope to see you all again very soon.”

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Notably, the 27-year-old did not specify the nature of the injury.

The four-time Grand Slam winner has made it to the final in Stuttgart in four of the past five years but is yet to win the tournament.

“I always love coming back to Stuttgart. The atmosphere, the fans, and the support I feel there are so special to me. And of course, I was really hoping to have another chance to fight for that Porsche.”

Sabalenka beat local favourite Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Miami Open to make it a “sunshine double,” having won the WTA 1000 at Indian Wells two weeks prior.

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Aryna Sabalenka won her second straight Miami Open title on Sunday, beating Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to complete a “Sunshine Double” Indian Wells-Miami sweep.

The world number one from Belarus, fresh off her first triumph in the California desert, became the fifth woman, and the first since Iga Swiatek in 2022, to win both of the elite early-season hardcourt WTA 1000 titles.

“It means a lot,” Sabalenka said after joining Poland’s Swiatek, German great Steffi Graf, Belgian Kim Clijsters and fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka on the list of women to win both titles in the same year.

“My goal has always been to put my name in history, and I just did it.”

Sabalenka underscored her WTA dominance in a season in which her only defeat to date was her Australian Open finals loss to Elena Rybakina, whom she went on to beat in the Indian Wells title match and in the semi-finals here.

She handed Gauff her first career defeat in a hardcourt final.

The American had won her first nine, including a triumph over Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open championship match.

Gauff had also beaten the Belarusian for the title on the red clay of Roland Garros last year.

So Sabalenka said she wasn’t surprised to see Gauff dig in, even after the Belarusian pocketed the first set with a ruthless display of power and precision.

She broke Gauff to open the match and, after Gauff saved three break points in a gritty fifth game, broke the American again in the seventh before serving it out in 37 minutes without facing a break point herself.

In a tense second set, Gauff’s first break point chance, from a blistering backhand passing winner in the second game, sparked a jubilant reaction from the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, which is just about an hour away from Gauff’s Delray Beach home.

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But Gauff couldn’t convert, slamming a forehand into the net on the next point as Sabalenka held. It needed another gutsy hold from Gauff to keep it on serve in the fifth game.

Up 40-0, she wasted three game points with a pair of errors off the ground and a double fault, then had to save a break point before taking the game.

But Gauff was finding more depth on her returns and broke Sabalenka for the first time to take the second set.

“I knew that she was going to try her very best to fight in this match,” Sabalenka said. “I was just trying to keep a positive mindset going into the third set. I’m super happy how well I handled my emotions, how well I stayed focused from the very beginning to the very end.”

And the third set, again, was virtually all Sabalenka. She broke to open the final frame and broke again when Gauff sailed a backhand long on Sabalenka’s first match point.

“What a month,” said Sabalenka, who, along with two prestigious titles, acquired a new puppy and got engaged to boyfriend Georgios Frangulis.

Gauff was also feeling grateful after a rocky March that saw her withdraw from her third-round match at Indian Wells with a nerve issue that caused “scary” pain in her left arm.

She had said after a dominant semi-final win over Karolina Muchova that she was making progress with the inconsistencies in her serve and forehand, although seven double faults hurt her cause against Sabalenka.

And after considering skipping the event, the 22-year-old was thrilled to reach the final for the first time.

“I feel like I’m nowhere near the peak of my tennis, so I think it gives me comfort a little bit playing these tournaments and having great results,” she said.

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World number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka powered past second-ranked Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to line up a Miami Open title clash with Coco Gauff.

Sabalenka, who fell to Rybakina in the Australian Open final before turning the tables on the Kazakh in the Indian Wells title match earlier this month, broke the big-serving Rybakina twice in each set to come out on top in the blockbuster semi-final and keep her bid for the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami on track.

“I think I did everything right,” said Sabalenka, who applied ruthless pressure on Rybakina’s serve while delivering a sterling service performance that featured nine aces — including four in a row across the seventh and ninth games of the opening set.

“She’s an incredible player, always pushes me to the limit,” Sabalenka said. “With her, you have to bring your best tennis, and that’s why I was able to pull out such great tennis today.”

Sabalenka had to save a match point to beat Rybakina in Indian Wells, but she was on the front foot on Thursday, seizing a break for a 3-1 lead in the opening set.

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Rybakina recouped the break immediately, but Sabalenka broke again to pocket the set and took command in the second with a break for 2-0 in a game which Rybakina led 40-0.

Trailing 0-4, Rybakina clawed back a break for 4-1, but Sabalenka wouldn’t flinch again. Rybakina saved one match point on her own serve before Sabalenka served it out with a love game punctuated by a fierce forehand winner.

The match marked the first time outside the WTA Finals that the world’s two top-ranked players met before a final since Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna in the 1998 US Open semi-finals.

It could only come about because Rybakina was seeded third, her rise to second in the rankings on Monday coming a day after the Miami draw was made.

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