Aryna Sabalenka (US Open Tennis - Twitter)
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka squares off against 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova in the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International 1 on Friday.
The world No. 5 received a bye in the first round and began the new season by taking on the talented Liudmila Samsonova in the round of 16.
Sabalenka did extremely well to win the match in two sets as Samsonova was on song, but lacked composure in the crucial stages. In the first set, the Russian youngster took a 5-1 lead. However, Sabalenka managed to come back and save seven set points en route to winning the first set. The second seed was also a close affair and Sabalenka managed to win the match 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-3).
The 23-year-old also knows a thing or two about comebacks. She lost the first set in her opening match in Adelaide against 8th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. However, the star from the Czech Republic went on to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. It has to be mentioned that Alexandrova didn’t have her best service match. She committed as many as 17 double faults and that must have given her opponent a lot of confidence to get back into the match.
In the round of 16, Vondrousova made light work of experienced Estonian player, Kaia Kanepi. The former won the match 6-0, 6-4 to sail into the quarterfinals.
Aryna Sabalenka has a slight edge over Marketa Vondrousova as the Belarusian leads the head-to-head scoreline 3-2. Sabalenka won their most recent encounter in three sets at last year’s Australian Open 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Prediction: Aryna Sabalenka to win in three sets.
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