“Can’t Expect Easy Matches”: Aryna Sabalenka on Uphill Battle at Linz Open 2020

Belarusian rising star Aryna Sabalenka is quite a versatile player. Unlike most of the players on tour, she has managed to maintain herself at the highest level, be it singles or doubles. Aryna has managed to be a Top 10 player in both categories during her career so far. Just a couple of weeks ago, she managed to win in both the singles and doubles categories at the J & T Bank Ostrava Open. 

The 22-year old is currently playing at Linz in Austria. Having been seeded no. 1 for the event, she is a clear favorite to go the distance. Speaking after her opening match win, she said, “I can’t expect easy matches, if you look back at my matches you can see that everything can happen. I’m just going out there and expecting, not [always] a great level, but expecting that I’m going out to fight and do everything I can no matter what.”

Also Read: How Aryna Sabalenka Can Draw Serena Williams Out From the Top 10 WTA Rankings?

Aryna Sabalenka keeps her nerve

As the match began, Aryna was under pressure. Paolini took advantage of this and raced to a 4-1 lead early in the first set. After regaining her composure, the Belarusian struck back by winning five games in a row and took the first set 6-4. After exchanging breaks initially in the second set, Sabalenka gained momentum. She finally got the much-needed break towards the business end and clinched the set to win the match 6-4 6-4 against Jasmine Paolini. 

During her press conference, Sabalenka further spoke about her service game and said, “I’m happy with that. I think the serve helped me a lot today, it was a lot of pressure on her from my serve.”

The aggressive, hard-hitting baseliner is still young and keeps getting better with each year passing by. She has the potential to do wonders. In recent times, consistency has been a major factor in women’s tour as compared to men’s.