The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, defending champion and second in the world rankings, He only partially took advantage of the gift the Madrid tournament draw gave him: won, but without riding he might have planned, 6-1, 6-7 (5) and 6-4, their fourth round matchup against the number 183 in the world, the American Robin Montgomery.
Sabalenka, two-time champion in Madridand Montgomery, debutante and guest this year at Caja Mágicathey have a more uneven rivalry on paper than it has seen on the field.
The only difficulty for the Belarusian should be to interpret the game of an opponent he has never faced and maintain concentration against an inferior opponent.
But the two break points the 19-year-old left-handed American had in the first game, as well as the fight he put up in the next game before losing serve, were no mirage. He quickly lost the first set, but came up big in the secondplayed without complexes, especially at the net, and Sabalenka was upset, making mistakes.
Faced with the unlikely scenario of playing a tiebreaker against Montgomery, Sabalenka didn’t measure up.
In the third quarter, The winner of the last Australian Open made a break that was immediately returned. After only 5-4 he let go and closed the match with a blank game.
Sabalenka’s next rival is another American, Danielle Collins, who defeated Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 3-6, 6-4 and 6-1.
Sabalenka He must reach the final one more year to keep number two in the classification when leaving Madrid; if not American Coco Gauff will hide it.
Source: La Verdad
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