Can Aryna Sabalenka carry her winning recipe into the new season?
It started at the Connecticut Open when she played against Carla Suarez Navarro, not particularly a shoo-in that most can defeat, but she blasted her winning in straight sets. She had her routines on point and when most would just be content to have won their maiden title from a top 20s plus player, a month later she went on a tear and defeated Anett Kontaveit at the Wuhan Open. There's really no telling when Sabalenka's winning streak will slow down or speed up. She has the drive and momentum and that's all she cares about. "This is a great feeling. I will just work more, just to try to keep going, keep showing my best tennis, and we will see", she smilingly said.
This final was the third one of her entire career and she feels comfortable just 'winging it' and winning. "I didn't have some (career) plan...I was just like, "Keep going, keep fighting. Now I am 20 years old and I have my first title, so...it's okay". But for the Belarusian, it's more than okay because her journey to the Connecticut final was a die-hard effort of winners over some significant players. She had won over Sam Stosur in the first round, Belinda Bencic in the quarters and Julia Goerges in the semifinals. Suarez Navarro didn't have a great amount of playing time due to retirements of her opponents, so with the New Haven event she nearly came up to the final inactive.
The more challenges Sabalenka has the more consistent and finely tuned she plays and within the month to come out and not only win the final at Wuhan but dismantled the players' game she's played along the way. She was given Suarez Navarro again in the mix, Elina Svitolina, Dominika Cibulkova and Ashleigh Barty. But she played very aggressive and succeeded in leaving their games in shreds. The Belarusian is going through the pangs of being nearly the youngest WTA lady and having to prove herself time and again, but she takes it with no sweat, blood or tears. Anett Kontaveit had played well throughout the Wuhan tournament until she got to the final and met the immovable player--Sabalenka. "Her game was really aggressive and I felt the pressure straight away...She was just too strong today", Kontaveit explained. It's not even the fact of Sabalenka playing exceptional in a final but the rounds leading to it are extraordinary. Eastbourne, the warm-up event to Wimbledon and she continued to wipe out most of her opponents in three sets there. She had to go through Julia Goerges, Elise Mertens, Karolina Pliskova as well as the recently retired Aga Radwanska to get to the final, but this time Caroline Wozniacki was her opponent. The Dane showed more strategies and deceptive shots than Sabalenka could produce during that round and Wozniacki was amazed and happy to have won another title and to break through Sabalenka's game. "It's a long time ago that I was a winner of this tournament so it's amazing I can still play 10 years later", Wozniacki laughed.
Aryna Sabalenka coyly takes thing mildly often on the court and no one knows what could be the magic she spreads or the disaster that may lie ahead for her or her opponents in the common year, but the Belarusian's game is pure power and strategy and it looks like she isn't backing down with that tactic which has caused her to win two titles in one year and is ready to get her groove going for more.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2PAGQid
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