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| photo by Daniel Ward |
World number 1 Simona Halep reached her third Western and Southern Open final today when she defeated the unseeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4. And while the scoreline may seem routine, the match was anything
but. Sabalenka, perhaps
the up-and-comer on the tour right now, played the same fearless tennis against Halep that she has played throughout the tournament. Her huge serves and her willingness to go toe-to-toe with Halep in hitting groundstrokes kept the match exciting from the beginning.
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| Aryna Sabalenka (photo by Daniel Ward) |
Cracking 114, 116 and 117 mph. serves like it was nothing, Sabalenka gave Halep plenty to do from a retrieval standpoint. And Halep, who likes to tell us that she is "strong on the legs," was up for it. In the end, the world number 1 was too savvy for the Belarusian upstart, but what an entertaining match it was.
In her post-match press conference, Sabalenka said she was angry with herself--that she realized she was waiting for Halep to make errors, rather than being as aggressive as she needed to be. But watching Sabalenka crack a 116 mph. serve at match point gives one the belief that the young player will take her lesson seriously.
Tomorrow, Halep will play Kiki Bertens to determine who will be the 2018 champion. This is Halep's third time to be in the Cincinnati final. If she wins, it will be her first Cincionnati title. In 2015, she lost to Serena Williams, and in 2017, she lost to Garbine Muguruza.
i enjoyed this match immensely. i was fortunate to see all of sabalenka's matches and halep's matches.so it was interesting that they ended up facing each other in the SF. even though there nerves, sabalenka still seemed more calm that other players i have seemed in the same situation. from what i heard her say, she was taken aback by halep's ability to get those balls back. she tried to hit through halep. 1st over-hitting, then becoming patient in rallies, then just hitting hard [as she put it] as the match neared the end. i thought she did very well for the little experience she has and the type of game she owned. halep's legs never moved so fast. on drops that sabalenka hit, halep was able to run up, get the ball over the net. she practically threw herself at shots. a couple times she kept the defense going when it seemed impossible as sabalenka smashed ball after ball during one rally. at this point, halep is playing like a no 1. she is confident, enjoying the challenges and doesn't mind the target on her back.
ReplyDeleteIt was a highly entertaining match, for all the reasons you mentioned. (So was the other semifinal). Aryna is a very hard hitter, but she has a lot more going for her besides that, and she is fearless. She said in press later that she waited for Simona to make errors, and she realized what a mistake that was.
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