Alexandrova ends Sabalenka’s Toronto run
Aryna Sabalenka is out. The world number one fell 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round of the Canadian Open on Saturday, and the manner of it will sting. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the decider, Sabalenka saved two match points. A double fault on the third ended her night.
Alexandrova needed almost two and a half hours to close it out. The 16th seed took the opening set on a tiebreak, lost the second when Sabalenka broke for 4-3 and served it out, then held her nerve as the Belarusian’s error count climbed in the third.
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“Every point like it was the last”
“I just tried to play every single point as if it was the last one, because with her you don’t get a lot of chances during the match,” Alexandrova said on court. She admitted she had written off her own chances after dropping the second set. “I thought it was already past me.”
For Sabalenka, a four-time Grand Slam champion and the reigning US Open winner, the defeat lands three weeks before she defends her title in New York. She remains the favourite there. Toronto simply refused to cooperate as a tune-up.
What comes next
Alexandrova moves into the semifinals against Elina Svitolina, who dismantled American eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-4. The Russian has spent much of the season lurking outside the top ten without a signature win. She has one now, against the best player in the world, on a hard court that mirrors what awaits everyone at Flushing Meadows.
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