Sabalenka safely through to the Rome round-of-16.
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka has routinely progressed into the Rome Open round-of-16 after beating 2024 Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska 6-4 6-2.
This afternoon in Rome, Sabalenka, 26, and 23-year-old Yastremska played against each other for the fourth time in their careers but also for the first time since 2020. A bit surprisingly, only today Sabalenka managed to end on the winning side against Yastremska for the first time.
And to beat Ukrainian No. 32 seed Yastremska, Sabalenka needed just less than an hour and a half.
In her next match, Sabalenka could meet another Ukrainian as she plays next against the winner of the match between 2023 Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina and world No. 26 Anna Kalinskaya.
How Sabalenka beat Yastremska?
Early in the match, it was actually Yastremska who was creating chances and threatening to open a lead. Unfortunately for Yastremska, she didn’t manage to get an early break after missing out on a break point in the fourth game and another one in the sixth game.
After saving break points in back-to-back games, Sabalenka earned her first break points and the break in the seventh game to open a 4-3 lead. Up by a break, Sabalenka then routinely held on to her serve for the remainder of the first set to win the opener.
At the start of the second set, Yastremska managed to serve out the opening game of the set but then Sabalenka went on a big run and won the next five games for a pretty comfortable 5-1 lead.
Down by a set and two breaks, Yastremska served out the seventh game to cut the deficit to 2-5 but it didn’t change much since Sabalenka converted her first match point on her serve in the following game.
Now, Sabalenka has been through to the last-16 in Rome for the third time in her career.
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