Hard return to reality for Aryna Sabalenka after her title at the Australian Open. The Belarusian fell in the first round of the WTA 1000 in Dubai this Tuesday morning. Falling in the final in Brisbane, the world number 2 conceded her second defeat of the season against Croatian Donna Vekic, in three sets (6-7 [5]6-3, 6-0).
The 25-year-old collapsed after winning the first set in the decider (6-7 [5]). We thought she was on track, taking her opponent’s serve from the start of the second set, but Vekic came back into the game and won the second set (6-3).
The tide was turning on the court and the final set swung completely in favor of the 31st in the world who inflicted a scathing “bagel” or “bicycle wheel” in French (6-0), taking advantage of Sabalenka visibly injured in one hip. . She notably committed eight double faults, alongside her tennis and her usual commitment.
The double Grand Slam winner lost a sixth time in eight confrontations against Vekic, who will find the round of 16 of the tournament and the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (22nd in the world), who defeated the Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
“I’m not the type to win something and stop. I’m addicted to winning. I feel like it’s something that’s in my blood,” Sabalenka said upon arriving in Dubai. It will be a postponement for the world number 2. For her part, the Croatian continues well after her success against the Chinese Xinyu Wang in the first round.
:quality(70):focal(3114x2342:3124x2352)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/liberation/DGQL24H6TBGUVCPUUQN7VHWEN4.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)