tennisnet.com WTA

"Tennis gods, please explain Sabalenka versus Sorribes Tormo"

Aryna Sabalenka had one of the bigger chases in professional tennis against Sara Sorribes Tormo on Friday evening.

by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 24, 2020, 09:25 am

Aryna Sabalenka struck in Shenzhen
© Getty Images
Aryna Sabalenka

It was 0: 6, 0: 4 and the advantage for the Spaniard - it would have been reason enough for some players to bury their heads in the sand. In case of doubt, even the sand in the head, as Lothar Matthäus once philosophized.

Not so Sabalenka: it was twice an advantage for Sorribes Tormo, Sabalenka was just five points away from 0: 6, 0: 6 - and turned the thing. Not only that: she stopped playing Sorribes Tormo. It was 0: 6, 6: 4, 6: 0 in the end for the 22-year-old, who made it to the semi-finals in Ostrava.

Sabalenka: "Already thought of in the locker room"

"Another crazy match, a crazy fight. I'm just happy," said Sabalenka. Who philosophized about maybe playing a sentence before the match in the future. "I didn't put a ball in, couldn't move, wasn't on the pitch. I was somewhere else, screaming and doing crazy things." She had already been in the locker room and thought about when to go home. "But then it occurred to me that I'm still playing doubles here."

She is now extremely happy to have found a way back into the match. Sorribes Tormo played damn well, was like a wall. Also bitter for the Spaniard: She not only had two break chances to make it 5-0 in the second set, but also five balls to make it 5: 3, but Sabalenka used her only break chance in this game to tie. In the third round, Sorribes Tormo ultimately had no chance, only a 40: 0 at 0: 3 might have brought them back into the match, but Sabalenka also got this break.

Ljubicic no longer understands the world

And so, after almost getting real "glasses", she distributed a "virtual" one. The crazy numbers: Ten games in a row for Sorribes Tormo - then twelve in a row for Sabalenka. Or as Ivan Ljubicic, Roger Federer's coach, tweeted afterwards: "Tennis gods, explain and please Sabalenka - Sorribes Tormo".

The world number twelfth nevertheless stated that she had to think about the coming day and the match against Jennifer Brady. "I don't want to have the same problems again." You have to be there from the start, "otherwise I'll be out of the tournament and I don't want that."

Sabalenka and Brady will meet from 3:30 p.m., and from 2 p.m. Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sakkari will play the first semifinals.

by Florian Goosmann

Saturday
Oct 24, 2020, 10:07 am
last edit: Oct 24, 2020, 09:25 am