Sabalenka’s historic night victory with a scare against Alexandrova

Last year’s runner-up, Aryna Sabalenkaovercame a poor start to the match in their third round match at the US Open to win by 2-6, 6-1 and 6-2 at the 29th seed, Ekaterina Alexandrovain a historic rivalry because of the time when it should be played.

Sabalenka and Alexandrova entered Arthur Ashe Stadium with fans still catching their breath after Alexei Popyrin beat defending champion Novak Djokovic on Friday night, and the duo began their match in 00:08 New York time.

The most recent previously recorded start in the tournament was at 1987when Gabriela Sabatini and Beverly Bowes entered the court at midnight and finished in 90 minutes.

All indicated that it could be a long match when the game of the Australian Open champion, Sabalenkabroke amid a series of unforced errors and the Belarusian, second seed, gave away the first set in 33 minutes by a clear 2-6, forcing her to come back.

“I don’t know what I did, I was just trying to stay low, put as many balls as I could on that side. He played fantastic tennis in the first set. It’s really hard to change it,” Sabalenka said.

The 26-year-old quickly found her rhythm and broke to take a 3-1 lead in the next set and then took the pulse of the match more with an impressive display of power to overcome her feisty opponent who Russian.

“I’m really happy that we were able to turn this game around and get that hard-fought win,” he said.

surprisingly, Sabalenka She lost serve after leading 5-0 in the deciding set, but quickly dealt the final blow to a fading Alexandrova in the early hours of the morning with a backhand winner to delight the crowd still on court.

“Thank you very much for being late”Sabalenka said after the match, when the clock showed almost two o’clock in the morning.