NEW YORK:
Aryna Sabalenka evened the rating with Leylah Fernandez on the U.S. Open with a 6-3 7-6(2) win on Friday to maintain alive her hopes of changing into the primary participant since Serena Williams to win consecutive titles at Flushing Meadows.
The world primary had unfinished enterprise with the Canadian, who surprised Sabalenka in straight units within the 2021 semi-finals en path to her runners-up end of their solely earlier assembly.
There can be no repeat of that shock on Friday, with Sabalenka overcoming early jitters on Louis Armstrong Stadium, surviving a marathon opening sport that featured three break factors earlier than discovering her rhythm.
Fernandez refused to go quietly and compelled a second-set tiebreak earlier than the Belarusian’s energy prevailed.
Sabalenka’s victory extends her good U.S. Open third-round document to 6-0. The win additionally brings her inside 4 victories of matching Serena Williams’ feat of profitable consecutive U.S. Open titles achieved greater than a decade in the past.
The match started with Fernandez incomes a number of break factors within the opening sport, however Sabalenka’s resilience shone by as she saved all of them earlier than finally holding serve.
That early take a look at appeared to settle the world primary, who broke Fernandez’s serve within the fourth sport and by no means regarded again within the first set.
“I actually wished this revenge,” Sabalenka stated in her on-court interview. “I am very proud of the win.”
The second set proved way more aggressive with each gamers buying and selling holds till a tiebreak, the place Sabalenka’s expertise advised as she raced to a 6-1 lead earlier than sealing victory with a forehand winner.
