Aryna Sabalenka too strong for the Russian – One-sided match
Aryna Sabalenka has her first match in a WTA 1000 tournament in Rome behind her. The WTA world ranking leader easily beat Anastasia Potapova 6:2, 6:2 and registered for the third round of the event in the Italian capital
Last season, Aryna Sabalenka reached the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, but then she lost to Iga Świątek. The same situation occurred in Madrid, where this year the Belarusian proved to be the best.
Now the WTA world ranking leader has begun her march for the title in the capital of Italy. In the first match, played as part of the second round, she dealt with the Russian Anastasia Potapova without any problems, winning 6:2, 6:2.
In the fourth game of the opening set, Potapova had her first problems when she was losing 0:30 on her serve. However, the Russian won four points in a row and held her serve (2:2).
However, the lower-ranked tennis player found herself in the same situation in her next service game. Then, after a double service fault, she had to defend break points, but she couldn’t do it and lost her serve (2:4).
After winning the game on her own serve without losing a point, Sabalenka earned two set points. This came after another double fault from her opponent. Although she made a mistake on the first serve of the Belarusian, Potapova made a mistake a moment later and lost 2:6.
In the second set, the Russian started having problems practically at the same moment as in the previous set. We are talking about the sixth game, in which Potapova missed two chances to close it out and it backfired.
The ranking leader immediately after working out a break point recorded a break, after which she went for 4:2. After maintaining the serve with a serve+volley action, she was one step away from ending the match (5:2).
After the Russian hit the net in her own service game, she had to defend two match points. She managed to do so, but she missed all three opportunities to hold serve.
This backfired on the lower-ranked player. After she hit the net, her opponent had a third chance to end the match, and this time she took advantage of it with a cross-court shot (6:2).
Sabalenka has already met her opponent in the third round of the tournament in the Italian capital: the 31st seed, American Sofia Kenin, who beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome (Italy)
WTA 1000, clay court, prize pool 6.009 million euros
Friday, May 9
Singles round 2:
Aryna Sabalenka (1) – Anastasia Potapova 6:2, 6:2
The draw for the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome