WTA Abu Dhabi: Aryna Sabalenka before the next tournament victory
Aryna Sabalenka could take her third tournament win in a row on Wednesday. The Belarusian defeated Maria Sakkari in the semifinals of the WTA Tour 500 tournament in Abu Dhabi and plays against Veronika Kudermetova in the final.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jan 12, 2021, 12:54 pm
Sabalenka traveled to Abu Dhabi in autumn 2020 with the recommendation of two tournament victories: The Belarusian had won the only two events after the French Open in Ostrava and Linz. And continues her series in an impressive way in the new year. In the semifinals, Aryna Sabalenka gave Maria Sakkari no chance at 6: 3 and 6: 2. The Greek had previously eliminated tournament favorite Sofia Kenin .
Against Sakkari, Sabalenka posted 22 direct wins - and that with only eight mistakes without need. Once again the serve was a guarantee for victory: Sabalenka served eight aces, won 83 percent of her points after the first service.
Sabalenka in the final against Kudermetova
In the final, Sabalenka wins with Veronika Kudermetova. In her semi-final against Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine, the Russian won the first set after an epic tiebreak with 10: 8, after that Kudermetova failed to break early, but took Kostyuk's serve again to the final score of 7: 6 (8) and 6: 4 over the distance. In the quarter-finals, 23-year-old Kudermetova, who is currently in 46th place in the WTA world rankings, beat Elina Svitolina in the tie-break of the third set.