ARYNA SURVIVES! 🔥 World no. 1 Sabalenka defeats Jasmine Paolini 6-4 7-6 after a tough battle, with Paolini who served for the second set twice. She will face Elena Rybakina next! 🍿
"Aryna Survives": Aryna Sabalenka overcomes tough battle with Jasmine Paolini to reach China Open quarter-finals
WTAThursday, 05 October 2023 at 15:43
Aryna Sabalenka showed her resilience in her Round of 16 clash with Jasmine Paolini at the WTA China Open by winning the match 6-4, 7-6 (4).
The World No. 1 has had a successful run at the WTA 1000 tournament so far, dominating her meeting with Sofia Kenin 6-1, 6-2, before overcoming some challenges against Katie Boulter to progress in straight sets 7-5, 7-6 (2).
Meanwhile, the World No. 36 fought back from a set down against both Top 20 player Beatriz Haddad Maia and home player Yue Yuan. Ahead of her clash with Sabalenka, Paolini led their head-to-head 2-1, having won their most recent encounter at the 2022 Indian Wells in three sets.
Sabalenka fights back for straight-sets win
Both players had a strong start to the match, winning their respective first service games comfortably. The Belarusian's power was on display from the beginning as she fired off ace after ace in the first set.
However, it was Paolini who got the first break points of the match, building up two after some powerful shots of her own. Sabalenka was able to bring it to a deuce though and a fifth ace secured the advantage before she saved her service game.
The players continued to hold serve until the last minute, when Sabalenka found herself with break and set point at 5-4. At this point, her opponent seemed unable to keep control of her nerves and double faulted to give the Australian Open champion the first set.
Paolini was not done yet though and came back fighting in the second set. Sabalenka built up two break points on the Italian's first service game but the latter showed great resolve in coming back to hold serve. Nevertheless, Sabalenka managed to break Paolini at 0-40 in her next service game.
However, the 27-year-old broke back immediately with an aggressive approach to Sabalenka's second serves. Things seemed to be looking up for Paolini at that point as a double fault from her opponent helped her to reach break point again to get ahead in the second set. Sabalenka sent Paolini running, but the latter's court coverage was excellent and she had an answer for everything as she secured a break.
This success was somewhat short-lived though. Paolini soon found herself serving for the set but Sabalenka used all her power and determination to break back. This happened after Paolini double-faulted for the second time in the match at yet another crucial moment.
Although Paolini was able to break Sabalenka yet again to serve for the match once more, the World No. 1 proved why she is the highest-ranked player on the WTA Tour with some phenomenal returns helping her to force a tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Sabalenka pulled off some well-angled shots to build up a significant lead over Paolini that gave her three match points. She successfully converted the second one to book her place in the quarter-final of the China Open.
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