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Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka on Friday blamed heavy balls and a slow court for losing four straight service games before “pushing herself to the limit” to keep her dream of an Australian Open hat trick alive.
The world number 1 had to fight hard to beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 in the third round and reach the second week in Melbourne.
But the service problems that had plagued them in the previous round left them on notice again in a rollercoaster battle lasting more than two hours at Rod Laver Arena.
“The conditions for servers are quite difficult,” Sabalenka told reporters.
“It doesn’t give you as many advantages as usual. The balls are heavy. The places are a little slower. Sometimes you just have to lay down the serve and play the rally.”
Sabalenka faltered badly in her second-round win against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, losing her serve three times.
Things were even worse on Friday and Sabalenka was broken by world number 42 Tauson in the opening game.
It was the first of seven straight breaks between the two – four of them by the top-ranked Belarusian – before Tauson took the lead 5-3.
This brought Sabalenka to life as she finally gave in to love and then withdrew again.
Sabalenka missed four set points on Tauson’s serve at 6:5.
On Sabalenka’s fifth set point in the tiebreak, she made no mistake, putting her in the lead with a rasping forehand winner.
“I think winning the first set – it was a very difficult set – gave me a bit more mental strength so that I can win this match without serving,” Sabalenka said.
In the second set she dropped her serve again but fought back again until the pair delivered a series of hot winners at 4-4.
– ‘Great Battle’ –
The result was the longest and most intense game of the game with seven deuces until Sabalenka secured the decisive break.
Sabalenka had to save two more break points from the courageous Tauson before she was able to win the game in 2 hours and 6 minutes.
“That was a great fight,” said Sabalenka.
“She played incredible tennis. It was really difficult to play against them today. I’m just super happy that I was able to just stay in the game and honestly push myself to my limits.”
“It was really important to get all those breaks back. It could have gone either way.”
Both players were looking to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games in 2025 after Sabalenka won the Brisbane International warm-up and Tauson took the title in Auckland.
In the end it was Sabalenka’s 17th win in a row at the Rod Laver Arena.
Next up is either rising Russian teen star Mirra Andreeva or Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
Sabalenka is looking for a rare hat-trick of consecutive Australian Open titles, a feat Martina Hingis last achieved 26 years ago and achieved by only four other women in history.
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