DUBAI: Out of sorts and out of the tournament, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka exited the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday night after a 3-6, 2-6 defeat to unseeded Clara Tauson of Denmark.
The Belarusian was far from the only top seed to fall, with reigning champion Jasmine Paolini, World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, and World No. 9 Emma Navarro all crashing out to unseeded opponents.
Tauson, the world No. 38, claimed the biggest scalp though, with her emphatic win against three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka taking the 22-year-old to a WTA 1000 quarterfinal for the first time in her career. Sabalenka, in contrast, has now failed to reach the last eight in Dubai in six of her nine attempts.
Dominating the Belarusian for close to an hour and a half, Tauson served seven aces, broke her opponent’s serve six times, and resolutely held the lead from as early as the third game. The Dane’s victory came just a month after suffering a third-round loss to Sabalenka at the Australian Open.
“Last time I had my chances too, but didn’t take them,” Tauson said on Centre Court after taking her record against top 10 players to 2-8. “This time I felt really free and knew that she had to beat me; I was the underdog all the way, so I really enjoyed my time on court and I’m just really looking forward to my next one.”
Sabalenka congratulated her opponent, but was quick to lay blame squarely on herself. “(Clara) played great tennis, and I didn’t play my best,” said the three-time Grand Slam winner. “That’s it. She had a bit more preparation and was hungrier than me. Well done to her; not very well done to me.”
Sabalenka said she needs to rethink her approach to the Middle East swing — which features tournaments in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai — after a series of disappointments in recent years. A winner in Qatar in 2020, the 26-year-old followed it up with victory in Abu Dhabi the following year but lost her first games in Doha and Dubai last year and failed to show anything close to her best tennis at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium this week.
“I’d say that for the last couple of years, I’m not doing well in the Middle East,” she admitted. “I believe we need to change something in the preparation (because) even health-wise I’m struggling. Australia always takes a lot of energy out of me. I believe we just need to think with the team for the future how we can improve or get better in the preparation for the Middle East.”
Tauson will now face World No. 35 Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals after the 20-year-old Czech beat fifth seed Pegula in straights sets 6-3, 7-6 (8). The victory was Noskova’s eighth top 10 win and third top 5 win, and she did it the hard way, saving two set points in the second-set tiebreak to defeat her American opponent and advance to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
The winner of that match will face either Karolina Muchova, who defeated American McCartney Kessler 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (5), or Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, who beat Navarro 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5.
On the other side of the draw, No. 4 seed Paolini lost to wildcard Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-0 after breaking down in tears with an injury to her right ankle during the second set. The Italian — whose win here last year prompted a breakthrough season — called a medical timeout and had her ankle immobilised, but could not challenge Kenin, who now faces world No. 7 Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina saved six match points before closing out a dramatic 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2) victory against No. 9 seed Paula Badosa. The Kazakh fought back from 6-3 down in a second-set tie-break, while Badosa also spurned two match points on Rybakina’s serve at 6-5 in the decider.
“Crazy match,” said Rybakina. “Really happy that I won it. I had a lot of chances before to finish the set or go more up in the score, but when it was already match points for her, I had nothing to lose so I was just playing point by point. Somehow (I) managed to make it even, then played better in the important points, especially on the tiebreak.”
The winner of Kenin-Rybakina will expect now to face World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who immediately became the tournament favourite after Sabalenka’s elimination. The Pole — a five-time Grand Slam winner — overpowered Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 7-5, 6-0 and will face 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the Elite Eight on Thursday.
Andreeva was forced to play two matches in a day after her second-round tie on Tuesday was cancelled because of rain. After beating 2022 finalist Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-0 in the morning on Court Three, she took to Centre Court in the afternoon to face American Peyton Stearns. Stearns had also played earlier in the day, defeating World No. 8 Qinwen Zheng 6-1, 6-1.
“It was tough to play two matches in one day,” Andreeva said. “The rain decided that though, so we had no choice. I just tried to stay active after my first match and I’m really happy with my win.”
On the prospect of facing World No. 2 Swiatek, Andreeva added: “Of course, it’s going to be an entertaining match. It’s never easy to play against a top player. I’ve played against her once in Cincinnati, and I think that was a good match, considering that it was the first time I played against her. I already know what to expect from her and I think she knows what to expect from me. I hope that we can put on a great game and we’re going to see who will be stronger.”
The 25th edition of the annual WTA 1000 event runs until Feb. 22, before the 33rd staging of Dubai’s ATP Tour 500 tournament takes place from Feb. 24 to March 1.
