Sabalenka proud to survive first big test: “I was all over the place”

The Belarusian was struggling with the wind and the power of Pavlyuchenkova before finding a way through to the semis at the Australian Open

@Julien Nouet

Simon Cambers

January 21, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka admitted she was “all over the place” in her quarter-final against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia at the Australian Open on Tuesday night.

But the Belarusian was also proud that he was able to turn around a match in which she lost her way and her game for a set and a half and claim her place in the semi-finals, winning through 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

“I was all over the place,” said Sabalenka, the winner of the title in each of the past two years. “I’m really glad that at some point I was able to put myself back together and I was able to just get back to the match. I was able to keep fighting, keep trying, and I was able to turn around this match.”

“I was just trying to figure out how to play in these conditions”

On a day when the ever-changing Melbourne weather threw up a strong wind to accompany temperatures past 30 degrees, both women struggled for rhythm but each had their moments of clarity, slashing winners on both sides.

But like all champions, Sabalenka found a solution just in time. “I was just trying to figure out how to play in these conditions,” she said. “I was struggling a lot with finding my rhythm, finding the solution in these conditions.

“It’s not about being scared. It’s about finding the way out. I was struggling not in the beginning, actually. In the second set I was struggling with finding the way, but then I found one way. Yeah, I’m happy that I was able to do that.”

History beckons for Sabalenka

Sabalenka will play one of her best friends, Paula Badosa, in the semi-finals but said she was hugely motivated at the prospect of becoming the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to win the title for a third year in a row.

“I’m really happy that I put myself in this situation where I have opportunity to became one of them (a legend of the game),” she said. “To be next to those names, wow, that’s just a dream. Of course, it always been in the back of my mind that I can do that. But you know, my main focus is, as you said, step by step.

“I know that if I’ll be able to bring my best tennis on each game, if not the best tennis, then the best fight spirit, I know that I’m capable of doing that. I’m just trying to focus on myself and on bringing my best tennis every time I’m out there.”

And Sabalenka, once a player who would lose her temper in a flash on the court, said she was better equipped, mentally, to deal with the pressure.

“I think I’m managing my emotions much better,” she said. “Even if I get frustrated on the court, I’m able to bring myself back on court and shift my focus to the right direction. I think that’s been the key in most of the matches.”