The second seed, Aryna Sabalenka, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who is having a dream run at the Australian Open 2022. She lost in her fourth-round match 7-5, 2-6, 6(7)-7(10) as her serving woes continue.

Aryna Sabalenka plays error-strewn match

The number 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka could not survive the groundstrokes and the strong serves that Kanepi sent her way during their fourth-round clash. Sabalenka took the opening set, but the Estonian fought back to win the next set 6-2. Aryna’s serve seemed to desert her into the second set.

She made 15 double faults in the match, out of which three came in a single game in the third set. But she managed to save 4 match points in the next game to deny Kanepi the match. She broke Kaia and then held her own serve to take the match to a 10-point tiebreaker. Aryna seemed to fluctuate in intensity, sometimes producing excellent shot-making and sometimes faltering on serve.

Kaia Kanepi continues the victory march

Kanepi, who thought she had won the match after winning the 9th point of the 10-point tiebreaker, followed the premature victory fist-pump by quickly winning the next point. She now faces Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.

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Kanepi kept fighting off Sabalenka’s attacks, and finally grabbed the second opportunity she got at a match point. This makes Kanepi, the 36-year-old, the oldest member on Tour to be in this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals.

This is the first time she will play the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park. Throughout her career, she has made it into the quarterfinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open (twice for all three). What do you think will happen in the quarterfinal clash between the Pole and the Estonian?

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