Sabalenka ends Kontaveit's impressive indoor winning streak in Stuttgart

Anett Kontaveit arrived in Stuttgart with an impressive indoor winning streak but Aryna Sabalenka ended it today with 6-4 3-6 6-1.

The winning streak before this match was 22 consecutive matches indoors won but number 23 did not come today. It was a difficult spot for Kontaveit who finished her match at 11.30 pm last night with today's match starting at a little after noon giving her a big disadvantage against a very good Sabalenka. The Belarussian is back to playing superb tennis here after reaching the final last year.

She jumped out to a strong start against Kontaveit taking her aggression to the Estonian who was not able to defend that well. She's never been one to defend well and it was painfully obvious against Sabalenka. The Estonian likes to attack and she was not able to do that in the first set. Sabalenka served well and that did wonders for her in the opening set.

Things changed in the 2nd set as Kontaveit started playing much better thanks to finding some rhythm late in the set. The Estonian attacked Sabalenka early and she was unable to replicate the sort of attacking display she had in the opening set. Most of the damage Kontaveit did was late in the set when she took a break, then she lost it but broke her opponent once more for the 6-3 win.

Ultimately Kontaveit ran out of steam in the final set as Sabalenka outlasted her physically. She was quite slow in rallies and generally lacked the power needed for a win over Sabalenka. The Belarussian stormed to a 6-1 finish.