Aryna Sabalenka reveals she entered Rome battling an illness and even thought about withdrawing from the tournament after suffering a back injury but now is looking forward to meeting Iga Swiatek in the finally and hopefully doing something a bit differently that will land her a win over the Pole now.
After falling just short in a three-hour and 11-minute Madrid final thriller to Swiatek, Sabalenka continued her fine form at Foro Italico to make back-to-back WTA 1000 finals. But en route to reaching the Rome final, Sabalenka had to overcome some tough competitions but also a couple of challenges.
During her Rome quarterfinal match versus Elina Svitolina – which finished after midnight – Sabalenka sustained a back injury but still managed to save a match point en route to claiming a 4-6 6-1 7-6 (7) round-of-16 win.
After overcoming Svitolina in a thriller, Sabalenka also earned a 6-2 6-4 win over Jelena Ostapenko and defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 in the semifinal.
“After Madrid, I didn’t feel great. I had illness, then I got injured. I kind of surprised that I even was so much stuff going on I was able to made it to the final. Kind of like surprised,” Sabalenka said.
“At the same time I knew that the level is there. If I start feeling better, I can go…
