Russia’s 16th seed Alexandrova knocks out world No. 1 Sabalenka in Toronto battle
TORONTO, Aug 9 — World number one Aryna Sabalenka was eliminated by Russian 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Sat...
TORONTO, August 9 — In a fourth-round match at the WTA Toronto Masters, Russian 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova topped world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4, advancing to the quarter-finals. The match lasted 2 hours and 29 minutes. Sabalenka, aiming for her third consecutive US Open title, fell to 5-5 in their WTA rivalry.
Alexandrova, who will face either eighth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova or ninth-seeded Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals, broke Sabalenka's serve twice in the first set. In the second set, Alexandrova took a lead but Sabalenka held serve twice. Sabalenka's three unforced errors in the 10th game led to Alexandrova's break.
After a backhand error by Sabalenka, Alexandrova secured the match with a sixth double fault. Alexandrova stated, "I didn’t have any expectations before the match. I knew it was going to be super difficult when I walked on the court. I was trying to risk as much as possible because it felt like it was the only way to create some chances. It caused many more mistakes but at the same time I created many more opportunities."
Written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
