Aryna Sabalenka Shares Her Secondary Goals After Inspiring Second-Round Win at Roland Garros

Aryna Sabalenka beat Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-1 to set a clash against Olga Danilovic in the third round of the Roland Garros.

Aryna Sabalenka Shares Her Secondary Goals After Inspiring Second-Round Win at Roland Garros

Aryna Sabalenka (via X)

Aryna Sabalenka claimed a decisive second-round victory to keep her hopes alive for her first French Open title. The World No.1 needed just an hour and nineteen minutes to triumph over Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann. After the victory, she opened up about some new style of play that she’s trying to adapt to, which will make her unreadable on the court.

Sabalenka has been in form since the start of the season. Apart from her poor run during the Middle East swing, she has reached the semi-finals of all the tournaments this year. Also, this clay season, she has reached one semi-final and one final and won the WTA 1000 title in Madrid. At the Roland Garros, she continued from where she had left.

She began poorly after holding serve at love before dropping the next three games. She was struggling to adjust to Teichmann’s variety of spins and speeds and soon found herself down 1-3. But after that, she adjusted immediately and picked herself up, dictating the match and forcing her Swiss opponent to make mistakes.

She won 11 of the next 12 games to triumph 6-3, 6-1. However, in the match, Sabalenka tried drop shots and forehand spins against her opponent. It was a little different from her usual powerful groundstrokes and shots. The World No.1 had begun using the new playing style at the Madrid Open after losing to fellow hard-hitter Jelena Ostapenko in the final of the Stuttgart Open.

The US Open champion had revealed in Madrid that she was trying to adapt to the style of play. But against Coco Gauff in the final, she returned to her usual style, and that got her the victory. After beating Teichmann, she revealed that she’s looking forward to becoming an unpredictable player on the court:

I had some luck with that shot today, the truth is we haven’t been working on it much lately. I am very happy to see it working for me during matches, of course, I want to be a complete player, to have all the tools, and to bring variety to the court, be an unpredictable player. I am very pleased to see things falling into place.

Few players on tour are unpredictable on the court. However, tennis greats and legends have often stuck to a style that they have mastered and are unbeatable at when in their best form. Nevertheless, Sabalenka’s approach to her game will make her more dangerous on the court, particularly when she fully adapts to the new style.

Aryna Sabalenka reveals why she struggled at the start of her match against Jil Teichmann

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jil Teichmann without much work to do, however, not before being the architect of her problems on the court. During the aforementioned press conference, she revealed that the match was harder than the 6-3, 6-1 final result. She racked up 34 winners but hit 21 unforced errors.

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)

However, seven of those unforced errors were made when she was down 1-3 in the first set. She added that she didn’t find her game rhythm, but it gave her the strength to keep fighting during the match:

I couldn’t really adjust to the ball. I didn’t have my rhythm. I didn’t really serve well. I mean, honestly, like, nothing worked well for me. That game gave me a lot of strengths to keep fighting, keep pushing. I’m super happy with the win…I’m super happy that I found my rhythm in the middle of the first set and I kind of like stepped in and put a lot of pressure on her.

Sabalenka will face Olga Danilovic in the third round of the Roland Garros. They have faced each other just once on the WTA Tour. That was at the 2018 Madrid Open, where Sabalenka claimed a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Also Read: Danielle Collins Highlights the Benefits of Having Women’s Tennis in Night Sessions at Roland Garros