“I did not sleep enough!” Aryna Sabalenka blames ‘poor scheduling’ as a reason for her semifinal loss to Caroline Garcia in Cincinnati
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Aryna Sabalenka
Sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka went down fighting in the Cincinnati Open semifinal to Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in a rain-interrupted clash. Sabalenka lost the match in three sets 2-6,6-4,1-6. Sabalenka hasn’t had a good year and this run ahead of the US Open will give her a lot of confidence. But ideally, the Belarussian was the favorite going into the match and didn’t bring her ‘A’ game on the court either.
In the quarterfinal, Sabalenka defeated Chinese ace, Shuai Zhang, in straight sets 6-4,7-6(1) and the match was scheduled for the night session. She thus finished late on Friday night and to her dismay, was scheduled to play her semifinal in the morning session on Saturday. Naturally, Sabalenka was unhappy with this and after losing, spoke about the same in the press conference.
She revealed that because of the poor scheduling, she didn’t get enough sleep. She expressed her disappointment and said that she only slept for 5 hours. Despite everything, she didn’t complain and said that all of this will only make her stronger. She also lauded Garcia for her performances and wished her for the final.
“I finished very late last night and they scheduled my match too early. I did not sleep enough. I think I slept only five hours, but all of this helps me to be stronger. On the other hand, she (Garcia) is playing very well this week. It will be a tough game, but I’m ready for action,” Sabalenka said.
What lies ahead for Aryna Sabalenka?
Sabalenka had a very good 2021 season where she reached a career-high ranking of No.2 in the world. But this season hasn’t been as good which saw her slipping down the ranks. But with a semifinal outing this week, Sabalenka will once again become the World No.6. She will now head into the US Open as the sixth seed and will be one of the favorites to go deep.
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Lakshya Chopra
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