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Aryna Sabalenka made her way into the quarter-finals of the China Open on Thursday. But in order to do so, the world no. 1 had to fight yet another lengthy battle, this time against Jasmine Paolini. Eventually, after nearly a quarter past the hour, Sabalenka got through, 6-4, 7-6(4).
In the first set, Sabalenka saved both break points she faced and made good of the only break point she generated to secure a lead for herself in the contest. At its start, the second set, too, looked like it would head the top-ranked player’s way but she made it quite difficult for herself.
Sabalenka was the one who first got the break in the second set in the fourth game but gave it right back in lieu of consolidating it. Her Italian opponent then had a chance to go up in the set as she broke Sabalenka’s serve for the second straight time, in the seventh game.
A couple of games further along, the world no. 36 had her first chance of serving for the set but she wasn’t even able to bring up a point in that game. However, Sabalenka was able to pounce on return, her own serve kept cracking and she was broken for the third time in the set, in the 11th game.
But, as had…
