INDIAN WELLS — A significant portion of a World No. 1\u2019s responsibilities involve beating the players they\u2019re supposed to beat, particularly the upper-middle class ranked between Nos. 20-50.<\/p>\n
On a gorgeous Sunday in the desert, Aryna Sabalenka took care of her business once again, defeating No. 35-ranked Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1. It was over in a breezy 71 minutes and marked the 23rd time in a row that Sabalenka has beaten a player ranked outside the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz Top 20.<\/p>\n
The victory sets up a savory Tuesday match between two four-time Grand Slam singles winners. That’s because No. 16 Naomi Osaka later defeated Camila Osorio by the symmetrical score of 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
Osaka, it is worth noting, is ranked inside the Top 20.<\/p>\n
If Sabalenka-Osaka feels like a fresh matchup, that\u2019s because it is. Surprisingly, they\u2019ve met only once, eight years ago at the US Open in the fourth round. Osaka, seeded No. 20, defeated No. 26 Sabalenka in three sets. They were both only 20 years old at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll have a chance to get a revenge, hopefully,\u201d Sabalenka told reporters. \u201cI would like to play her.\u201d<\/p>\n
We can report that Sabalenka said that last sentence with a predatory gleam in her eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously she’s so consistent, she’s the No. 1 player in the world and it’s, for me, very motivating,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cI’m excited to play her, and I’m looking forward to it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabalenka, who did not play the two WTA 1000s in the Middle East, has looked exceedingly relaxed in her two straight-sets matches after five weeks off. Her only loss in 14 matches this year came to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final.<\/p>\n
This was the first career meeting between Sabalenka and Cristian and the top seed came out firing. She won 16 of 17 points in her first four service games — the only miss being a double fault. But serving for the set at 5-3, nerves seemed to enter the equation. Two double faults ultimately cost her the game.<\/p>\n
With Cristian trying to get to 5-all, Sabalenka forged a set point with a thunderous overhead that brought out her loudest roar of the match and an emphatic first pump. Cristian promptly double-faulted to give Sabalenka the first set.<\/p>\n
In the first game of the second set, Cristian cracked back with her own break point, but Sabalenka countered with 1) a terrific pass after retrieving a drop shot, 2) ace and 3) a pristine forehand winner.<\/p>\n
Cristian, supported by a marvelous band of enthusiastic Romanian fans wearing predominantly yellow, challenged Sabalenka\u2019s serve in the fifth game of the second set but couldn\u2019t convert any of three break points. For the match, Sabalenka saved five of the six break points against her.<\/p>\n
Osaka defeats Osorio to set up Sabalenka meeting in Indian Wells<\/p>\n
Often, Sabalenka noted, when lower-ranked opponents get close, they feel the pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point they are going to start to feel tight — that’s what I feel against most of the players,\u201d Sabalenka noted afterward. \u201cYeah, they can play few really incredible games, probably crucial games, but then they still going to drop in the level and I’ll have my chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The win sent Sabalenka past Maria Sharapova for the seventh most WTA 1000 match-wins (137) since the format\u2019s introduction in 2009. Only Victoria Azarenka (209) has more among active players. A year ago, Osorio handled Osaka here in straight sets, but this one turned quickly when Osaka broke Osorio\u2019s first three service games.<\/p>\n
The second set was a far better contest, with a more aggressive Osorio taking a 5-2 lead. Serving for the set, Osaka had two looks at breaking her to get it back on serve, but Osorio closed it out.<\/p>\n
Osaka came back in the third with a burst, winning the first three games on the way to a comfortable closing margin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the second set, I just got really frustrated with a lot of mistakes that I made, and I let it kind of consume me, in a way,\u201d Osaka said. \u201cIn the third set, I just tried to take it point by point and not look too far ahead. Honestly, I just told myself to be more positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osorio, an upset first-round winner over rising star and No. 18 seed Iva Jovic, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the second round, was broken five times in the match<\/p>\n
Osaka finished with nine aces and only double faults. This was only her sixth match of the year after an abdominal muscle forced her to retire from a third-round match at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIAN WELLS — A significant portion of a World No. 1\u2019s responsibilities involve beating the players they\u2019re supposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593,5452],"class_list":["post-524078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}