WTA Dubai: Aryna Sabalenka concedes first loss of the season
Aryna Sabalenka suffered her first loss of the season at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. The Australian Open winner lost to Barbora Krejcikova 6-0, 6-7 (2) and 1-6.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit:
Feb 23, 2023, 06:27 pm
After 13 victories en suite at the beginning of the year, Aryna Sabalenka 's run of success is over: The 24-year-old suffered her first defeat of the season in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Dubai. The reigning Adelaide and Australian Open winner lost to Barbora Krejcikova after a strong start 6-0, 6-7 (2) and 1-6.
At first everything pointed to another success for Sabalenka, as the second in the world rankings already led 3-1 in the second round. However, Krejcikova didn't give up, got the set in the tie-break and didn't let anything burn in the third section. After almost two hours of play, the Czech was able to celebrate reaching the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Krejcikova meets Jessica Pegula, who didn't even have to play her quarter-final game due to an abdominal muscle injury suffered by her opponent Karolina Muchova. As a result, the viewers only got to see half of all planned individual games on Thursday, since Karolina Pliskova was also unable to play her duel against Iga Swiatek. The world number one now meets Cori Gauff, who defeated Madison Keys in straight sets .