Sabalenka heals her wounds with an epic comeback in Berlin

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🎾 Aryna Sabalenka vs Jessica Pegula

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Even if it's just two victories in a tournament like Berlin, the feeling conveyed by Aryna Sabalenka with her latest comeback is that of being connected again. What happened this afternoon will be remembered as a miracle that is hard to explain.

The scoreboard showed 6-2 and 4-0 in favor of Nikola Bartunkova, a Czech player who is just 20 years old and has been steadily climbing within the top 100 without making much noise. Today, she was ranked #62 on the WTA, reaching the quarterfinals after defeating players like Shnaider and Mertens, no small feat. But how would things go against a giant like Aryna Sabalenka? That was the question, one that was quickly answered as she displayed a meteoric version on the German grass.

The expression on the Belarusian's face told a story, once again mentally drained in the eyes of the public, but this time with good reason. She can say she escaped, turned it around, and ended up sealing a victory by 2-6, 7-6, and 6-4. What she won't be able to explain is how she did it, even though she tried to do so in the post-match interview. "I think she played an incredible tennis, there weren't many things I could do, it was as if she was the only one hitting the ball. Truly, the level she showed this afternoon was impressive; I even started to believe the match was hers because I really didn't know what to do, I had no more ideas," confessed the player from Minsk after making it to the semifinals.

"When I made a couple of approaches to the net with my serve at 0-4 in the game, it gave me a bit of confidence to see that maybe I could show her that I still had something left. I don't know, the truth is I was just trying to stay in the match somehow," explained Aryna, the same player who collapsed a few weeks ago at Roland Garros in a fateful match against Shnaider. "At that moment, I was trying to find my rhythm and suddenly that little stroke of luck appeared that brought me back into the match. Somehow, miraculously, I came back in that second set and gained some confidence to think that I could also win the third. I'm left with the feeling of having played against an incredible girl; she will undoubtedly be a future superstar," Sabalenka praised Bartunkova, giving her all the credit.

Sabalenka gets a taste of her own medicine... but has an antidote

The interviewer was clever to save the best question for last, asking Sabalenka if the punishment she received during that first hour of the match could resemble what she herself gives to her opponents on days of great inspiration. Well, it's been a while since we've seen that great Aryna, but the question was a success in bringing out the world No.1's claws and hinting at how much this victory can serve her in the near future.

"At times, yes, I thought maybe this is what my rivals must feel when they play against me (laughs). As I said before, all I felt in those moments was frustration because I didn't know what to do on the court; she just kept dominating the game and hitting winners. I don't usually go through those moments of not knowing what to do many times, but that's when that little tiger inside me came out to keep fighting for this match," valued the Belarusian, who will now face Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Sabalenka cura sus heridas con una remontada épica en Berlín