Sabalenka Survives 3 MPs, Gauff Wins In 3 At Rome Masters; Swiatek v Keys QF
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Aryna Sabalenka dug out another tough win saving no fewer than three match points to deny Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(7) in a late-night thriller at the Rome Masters.
The fourth round affair saw Sabalenka recover from 2-0 down in the third and then save match points serving 5-6, 15-40 in the third and one more in the ensuing breaker.
“I gave it all today,” Sabalenka said to the WTA. “I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t leave the court. I felt like if my body allows me to play even 15 percent of my best tennis, I’m going to stay there, I’m going to fight.”
After rolling through the second set to level, the concern for Sabalenka was her lower back which needed treatment.
“Sometimes I think you need to accept these tough challenges when everything is against you and fight through it,” she added. “It’s a good preparation for the Grand Slams because in the Grand Slams sometimes not everything is going. your way and you have to fight through it.”
On a full day of fourth round play, Coco Gauff came from a set down to defeat Paula Badosa 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Gauff had 11 double faults but only three in the final set when she took the last six games of the match.
Gauff will now face Qinwen Zheng tomorrow in the quarterfinals. Zheng ended the run of Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4.
Top seed and Rome tournament favorite Iga Swiatek eased past fellow former No. 1 7-5, 6-3. Swiatek will now face Madison Keys tomorrow.
In other matches, No. 24 seed former runner-up Victoria Azarenka upset the 5th-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. Ninth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko had to fight off Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in a thriller 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3). No. 13 seed Danielle Collins stayed hot routing Irina-Camelia Begu 6-0, 6-3.
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