![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/610X150-Slide_PRO-PLAYER_5-21-26.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThen the world No. 1 fought off dangerous Czech wild card Nikola Bartunkova 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 to advance to the Berlin Tennis Open semifinals for the second straight year.<\/p>\n
Rocked on her heels at times by Bartunkova\u2019s down the line darts, Sabalenka said this match gave her a glimpse of how it must feel to face herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking \u2018Whoa, that\u2019s how it feels to play against me\u2019,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cThat was a little bit of frustration going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny ball I would give to her she would smack it with the winners. I was not sure what to do. I guess I just decided to bring this little tiger in me and fight for this match.\u201d<\/p>\n
That fight saw Sabalanka twice go up a break in the final set only to see the Bartunkova come back to snatch a 4-3 lead. Sabalenka converted her third match point to prevail on a three-game run.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I told myself] stay aggressive, trust my shots, to go after my shots,\u201d Sabalenka said of her spirited comeback. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to go for the winners. I\u2019m just trying to stay aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabalenka slammed 10 aces against eight double faults and saved 11 of 17 break points she faced in a two hour, 23-minute win that was one of the fiercest comebacks of her career.<\/p>\n
The top-seeded Belarusian will face Jessica Pegula for a spot in Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the third-seeded Pegula out-dueled good friend Madison Keys 7-6(5), 7-6(8) in an all-American quarterfinal clash.<\/p>\n
Pegula saved five of seven break points and withstood 10 aces from the 2025 Australian Open champion to take a 3-2 lead in their head-to-head series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another really fast game, fast player, really aggressive, flat, deep balls, really serving well,\u201d Sabalenka said of Pegula. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a battle. I hope I can make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facing a deep 2-6, 0-4 deficit, Sabalenka was fighting both Bartunkova and herself\u2014and not gaining too much traction in either battle.<\/p>\n
Bartunkova held a break point in the seventh game and was one swing away from a 6-0, 5-2 lead when she botched a drop shot into the tape. Sabalenka survived the threat and held for 3-4.<\/p>\n
Swinging more freely, Sabalenka was scorching some heavy forehands that drove Bartunkova backward as she banged out a second straight break in the eighth game.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka swatted her fifth ace that helped her hold at 15\u2014her fifth consecutive game\u2014for a 5-4 lead.<\/p>\n
Settling her game, Bartunkova worked through a tricky hold at 30 to force the second-set tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
All the hard work Sabalenka has put in refining her front-court skills with co-coach and former world doubles No. 1 Max Mirnyi was on display as the top seed swooped forward and flicked a slick forehand half-volley winner for a 4-2 tiebreaker lead.<\/p>\n
A Bartunkova double fault and forehand error gave the Belarusian a fistful of set points. Sabalenka slid the wide serve snatching the second set to force a decider after 95 minutes.<\/p>\n
A barrage of deep blasts helped the US Open champion break to start the decider. Sabalenka slammed her eighth ace for a 2-0 third-set lead.<\/p>\n
A double fault put Sabalenka in a break-point bind, then Bartunkova shoveled a running forehand push pass down the line to break back for 2-all.<\/p>\n
Amping up the pace of her drives and volume on her grunts, Sabalenka hammered a heavy forehand into the corner breaking again for 3-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Holding a 30-Love lead in the following game, Sabalenka lost the serving plot and double-faulted back the break in the sixth game. Bartunkova dodged a break point when Sabalenka sailed a forehand holding for 4-3.<\/p>\n
Curling a crosscourt forehand winner, Sabalenka scored the love break for 5-3.<\/p>\n
The Czech cranked a forehand winner to save match point in the 10th game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Undeterred, Sabalenka slammed her ninth ace for a second match point. A net-cord shot sat up as if on a tee for Sabalenka who put a backhand into net.<\/p>\n
On her third match point, a hopping Sabalenka hit a forehand winner to secure her second straight semifinal spot in Berlin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Pagliaro | Friday, June 19, 2026Photo credit: Berlin Tennis Open Facebook Gazing into the tennis mirror ball,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-747861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747861","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=747861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}