Sabalenka back to winning ways in Berlin / Photo: Tobias SCHWARZ - AFP
Sabalenka back to winning ways in Berlin
Twelve days after her bruising French Open final defeat, world number one Aryna Sabalenka returned to winning ways as she wrapped up her second round match against Rebeka Masarova in Berlin on Thursday 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
The match had been suspended after the first set on Wednesday and the Belarusian was made to work hard on the resumption as the 112th-ranked Swiss Masarova took her to the tiebreak.
The win takes her into the quarter-finals as she looks to build up her grass court form ahead of Wimbledon which starts in 10 days time.
The 27-year-old has won 20 titles but none of those has come on grass.
She will face either 11th-ranked Kazakh Elena Rybakina or Czech doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova in a bid to reach the last four in Berlin for the first time in her career.
In the first match of the day, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, currently ranked down at 164, needed two hours 20 minutes to overcome Russian 12th seed Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.
In the last eight she will face the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the woman she beat in the Wimbledon final two years ago.
L.Legrand--JdCdC
