Aryna Sabalenka survived a scare in the Madrid third round as the second-seeded Belarusian found herself in a tight battle versus Robin Montgomery before sealing a 6-1 6-7 (5) 6-4 win over the American ranked at No. 183 in the world.
Although Sabalenka hasn’t been playing well since the Australian Open, she still entered the Montgomery match as the huge favorite. When the match started, Sabalenka was dominating Montgomery and it looked like the Belarusian would seal a pretty convincing win. But then, Sabalenka lost the second set and was in a tight third-set battle before sealing a win in two and a half hours of play.
Now, Sabalenka is set for a tough round-of-16 test as she plays next against recent Miami champion and No. 13 seed Danielle Collins.
How Sabalenka beat Montgomery to set up a Collins match?
At the start of the match, Sabalenka saved two break points in the opening game before breaking Montgomery in the second game. Up by a break, Sabalenka broke Montgomery again in the sixth game for a 5-1 lead before serving out for the opener in the following game.
After easily losing the first set, Montgomery drastically improved in the second set and she saved the lone break…
