Playing black, the Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenkaworld no. 2 and current champion of Australian Opendefeated the Spanish Paula Badosa (80th) in the 2nd round of WTA 1,000 on the hard court Miami (6-4, 6-3 in 1h.23′) three days after the tragic death of his ex-girlfriend Konstantin Koltsovformer professional ice hockey player.
Sabalenka and Badosa, 25 and 26 years old, had a very interesting match ahead of them in an important 1,000 category tournament, but the match was conditioned by the drama experienced this week by Koltsov, who died “apparently by of suicide” according to Miami police.
This tragic event raised the question of whether the current world number 2 and two-time Australian Open champion would continue in the competition, but in the end Sabalenka prepared herself in the final days as best she could and jump onto the court to face Badosa in a match. that was difficult for both of them to manage. : They are great friends and at the end of it they melt into a heartfelt embrace.
@SabalenkaA will take the win in straight sets against Badosa.#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/CD18tCMmVt
— wta (@WTA) March 22, 2024
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“Konstantin’s death is an unimaginable tragedy and, even though we are no longer together, my heart is broken. Please respect my privacy and his family at this difficult time,” Aryna wrote on her social network after the sad end of his former colleague. , who is 42 years old.
The rain was also the star as it forced the start of the day on Friday to be delayed by six hours: Aryna and Paula had to open the shift at the second most important track in Miami, the Grandstandbut instead of doing it at 4:00 pm, the scheduled time in Spain, they did it after 10:00 pm
A break in each set, in the seventh game of the first set and in the third of the second, was enough for Sabalenka to defeat Badosa 6-4 and 6-3. The Catalan tennis player reappeared in Miami after a month without competing due to repeated discomfort in the back. In his debut, he returned against the Romanian Simona Halepreturned to competition after his sentence was reduced from four years to nine months.
Source: La Verdad
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