Tag: Sabalenka

Spanning a long day at the WTA 500 Brisbane International, Friday saw 17-year old Mirra Andreeva stun her heroine, Ons Jabeur, to secure a semi-final spot where she will meet top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who was troubled by, but overcame, Marie Bouzkova in the late evening match.

Her movement is really great. She’s fighting for every point, trying to get every ball, she’s trying to make you play an extra shot. That’s really difficult because no matter how good your shot is you have to play another shot. It’s really difficult every time and I’m really happy that I got this win in straight sets. Aryna Sabalenka

An avid student of the sport, Andreeva is channelling former teenage World No 1s Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf in her quest for a maiden WTA 500 title at the Brisbane International.

“I watch all kinds of tennis to be honest,” she said. “I sometimes watch Martina Hingis and also Steffi Graf. I mean, they are legends, you know, so I just try to kind of look up to them and see what they do on court, maybe take some stuff with me to, kind of, try to play not the same way, but to take some things that I like from them.”

Seeded 8th, and from Russia, she attained a significant win over another idol, Jabeur, winning 6-4 7-6(2), in an hour and 29 minutes with a compelling performance.

“Honestly, for me, it was a really tough match, especially mentally, because it’s always hard to play against a person that you like,” Andreeva continued. “We all like Ons.

“There is no doubt about that so, for me, first of all, it was hard to keep pushing and playing aggressive because we all know that she’s very good at playing games – drop-shots, slices – so my plan was just, you know, to keep playing aggressive, solid. I’m not sure that if this was consistent today, but I tried.”

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Despite the slew of errors from both in the first set, the teenager held the edge to deliver an exciting showdown in the final stages.

It took time for both to find their rhythm, and they managed to hold their first service games without facing any break points.

By the 3rd game, Andreeva, the World No 16, was already showing her frustration, throwing her racket to the court surface, while Jabeur, a former World No 2 who is currently ranked 42, gradually gained her confidence and reduced her errors.

They exchanged breaks in the 5th and 6th games, staying level until Andreeva seized her chance in the 7th to take the lead, before holding onto her serve and closing out the set, which had lacked many extended rallies.

The second offered much more entertainment, with Jabeur frequently testing her drop-shot skills and causing all sorts of problems for Andreeva, producing several brilliant points that demonstrated her remarkable repertoire.

Nevertheless, it was Andreeva who secured the first break, and piled the pressure on the Tunisian, but the 3-time Grand Slam finalist orchestrated the break back after the Russian coughed up an untimely double-fault.

The teenager appeared a little bamboozled by it all at times, and Jabeur had the chance to close the set at 5-3, but failed as she handed the game over to the Russian with a double-fault of her own.

It was all Andreeva needed to regain her composure, and she gradually took full control of the baseline rallies.

Jabeur held 2 set points at 6-5, but Andreeva held firm on her serve to force a tiebreak, and it was in the decisive moments here that the Russian displayed greater mental stability, capitalising on several early errors from the Tunisian, and stepping up when it mattered most to secure her straight sets win.

Andreeva improved to 2-0 overall against her childhood idol, who has shown good form all week as she makes her come-back after several months away due to a shoulder injury.

The Tunisian will arrive at the year’s first Grand Slam with high ambitions, no doubt, but this loss means she misses on the chance to enter the Australian Open as one of the seeds, leaving her exposed to facing top players early on in the draw.

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Andreeva’s next challenge is the World No 1, Sabalenka, after the Belarusian found her way over a tricky hurdle in Bouzkova, ranked 44, in what will be their 4th career encounter.

The evening session saw Sabalenka avenge a loss to Bouzkova in last year’s Washington semi-finals, and she defeated the unseeded Czech, 6-3 6-4, after an hour and 44 minutes.

“No matter how good your shot is, you’ll get an extra ball,” Sabalenka said later. “So it’s really difficult against her all the time.”

Bouzkova had already swept past two seeds, No 7 seed Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia, and No 10 Victoria Azarenka from Belarus, in straight sets and her previous record and speedy game style was expected to pose a stern test for Sabalenka.

This became evident, both at the start and the end of their Brisbane contest, and it was Bouzkova who made the quicker start.

The first 2 games featured 6 deuces, and, after breaking Sabalenka in the first game, Bouzkova had 3 chances to hold for a 2-0 lead, but the top seed came up with a series of spectacular forehands to navigate her way to an immediate break-back.

The 3-time major champion later required 5 match points to seal her win.

From 3-5 down, Bouzkova saved 2 of them on her own serve, then held 2 break points to level the second set at 5-5, as Sabalenka’s forehand began to misfire.

Once again, the World No 1 was clutch when she needed to be, converting her 5th match point by slamming down an ace down the tee.

In between, while Sabalenka was rock solid, Bouzkova kept her game as watertight as ever, committing a paltry 8 unforced errors, but the Belarusian’s tally of 42 winners to 34 miscues put her firmly in control.

Sabalenka’s confidence was such that she even pulled off a ‘tweener’ midway through the second set, although an unbothered Bouzkova nonetheless finished off the match’s best point with a backhand winner down the line.

“Her movement is really great. She’s fighting for every point, trying to get every ball, she’s trying to make you play an extra shot,” Sabalenka said. “That’s really difficult because no matter how good your shot is you have to play another shot. It’s really difficult every time and I’m really happy that I got this win in straight sets.

“Always tough battles against Marie. Last one I lost it was a really tough match, so I came into this match really focused and I’m really glad I was able to start from the beginning and able to put her under so much pressure.”

Coming into the Last 4, Sabalenka leads the head-to-head against Andreeva, 2-1, with all 3 of their prior encounters coming on clay.

The Belarusian won their first 2 meetings in straight sets in the 2023 and 2024 editions of Madrid, but Andreeva got on the better of her with a 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 triumph in last year’s Roland Garros quarter-finals.

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The bottom-half semi-final will feature a pair of unseeded players after Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina ended local wild-card Kimberly Birrell’s fairytale run, 4-6 6-1 7-5, saving a match point while serving at 4-5 down in the second set.

Winless in Australia last season, the 27-year-old rebounded to snatch the final 3 games of the match for her 6th WTA semi-final, but only her 2nd on hard court.

“Actually, I don’t even remember the match point because every ball was really hard to get,” the World No 55 said. “Thank you very much guys for being so loud. I was expecting that but really appreciate that you came to support anyway.

“I want to give credit to Kimberly because, like, wow what a match.

“I feel [like a] specialist now because, normally when I arrive in Australia, its so hard for me to win any match, so I’m really happy to be in the semis. I didn’t expect that.”

Birrell, competing at her home base, had defeated not only two Top 50 opponents from 2021 to 2024, but had notched 2 wins already this week against such players, World No 8 Emma Navarro and No 35 Anastasia Potapova.

For two hours and 40 minutes she showed grit and courage before she fell narrowly shy against the steely Ukrainian, a player who was ranked in the Top 25 only 18 months ago.

In the semi-final, Kalinina will meet No 107-ranked Russian qualifier Polina Kudermetova, the younger sister of Veronika, who emerged on top of a clean-hitting power battle with American Ashlyn Krueger, 7-6(5) 6-3.

21-year old Kudermetova reached her first WTA semi-final at the end of 2024 in Merida, and has started 2025 with her second, and first at WTA 500 level.

She now is guaranteed to make her Top 100 debut in next week’s edition of the PIF WTA Rankings.

Meanwhile, Kalinina will be bidding to reach her 3rd career WTA final, and first since Rome 2023.