Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed the perfect return to the WTA Tour, having breezed into the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
It has marked ideal preparation for the Belarusian ahead of the Australian Open, where she will hope to regain her crown, having lost in the final last year.
Ironically, the 27-year-old will face Madison Keys, her Melbourne conqueror, in the next round of this WTA 250 event.
However, before that, Aryna Sabalenka remained as critical as ever when analysing her straight-sets win over Sorana Cîrstea.
Aryna Sabalenka reacts to her latest win in Brisbane
Chatting with the press, she claimed: “No, no, at the beginning I struggled a little bit with the rhythm, and I was just trying to find the rhythm and the focus, like, the right focus. And that’s it.
“Yeah, I think after a couple of games, I found my game a little better and the level was increasing every game I would play, so it wasn’t really frustration or something else. I was just trying to figure my game.”
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Then asked about how it feels to come through a tricky patch, she added: “Yeah, for sure. Of course I prefer to win every match 6-Love, 6-Love, like everyone [would] probably prefer, but at the end of the day, you only get better when someone pushes you and you have to deal with the moments under pressure.
“Today I practised that well in a few moments. Definitely better for my tennis to have matches where you have to overcome things.”
Sabalenka concluded by assessing why she is so successful in Australia, noting: “I think there is always room to improve, and I’m definitely not at my peak. I think, honestly talking, I think [there was] only one Australia [tournament] where I played really incredible tennis and I was on my highest level.
“The rest, I think I was dealing with different things that wouldn’t work on court, and I was just really overcoming a lot of things during those matches.”
Sabalenka also called out an ‘insane’ WTA rule in this same press conference, as she did not hold back in her assessment of the schedule.
Aryna Sabalenka will be a huge favourite at the Australian Open
Heading into the 2025 Australian Open, it felt like nobody could rival Sabalenka on hard courts.
In the end, Keys emerged to compound a magical run to the title, shockingly winning their final.
However, the Belarusian would reaffirm her hard-court dominance by retaining her US Open title, and is thus once again the favourite to thrive in Melbourne again.
Tomorrow’s clash between Keys and Sabalenka in Brisbane will be an interesting opportunity to see where both players are at ahead of the first major of the year, which starts in just over a week.
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Iga Świątek, however, will be more incentivised than ever to claim this title, given it would see her complete the career Grand Slam.
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