Aryna Sabalenka (# 7) qualified for the WTA Masters semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jessica Pegula (# 3) and a 6-2, 6 -3 defeat to Ons Jabeur (No. . 2) against Maria Sakkari (# 5), Friday in Fort Worth.
The 24-year-old Belarusian, still looking for a first title in 2022, which would be the 12th in her career and moreover the most prestigious, for her second participation in this event, will have the difficult task of facing the n ° Mondo 1 Iga Swiatek. The Pole has in fact spread her dominance on the circuit this year, with eight titles won, two of which are majors at Roland-Garros and at the US Open.
Sakkari assists Garcia ou Kasatkina
The other poster of the last square remains to be defined. If Sakkari has been assured of qualification since Wednesday, his opponent will not be known until Saturday. She will be the French Caroline Garcia (n ° 6) or the Russian Daria Kasatkina (n ° 8).
Meanwhile, the Greek did her best to consolidate her first place in Nancy Richey’s group, beating Ons Jabeur, effectively eliminating her. The Tunisian had to win in two sets to hope to stay in the tournament.
Sakkari, semifinalist of last year’s edition, still looking for a second title on the circuit, after the first one collected in Rabat in 2019 and the four finals lost this year (St. Petersburg, Indian Wells, Parma and Guadalajara), confirmed his excellent form at the moment, with this third success in two races in a row.
Sabalenka “simply happy”
It must be said that Jabeur made it easier for him by accumulating too many unforced errors (31 against 10) to hope for another fate.
Previously, Aryna Sabalenka had fought a little harder to defeat Jessica Pegula, “an incredible player, who really made me work tonight,” she later said on the pitch, saying to herself “just happy that I was able to remain very focused from start to finish and to have been able to win this match in two sets ”.
The 24-year-old Belarusian, who now leads 4 to 1 wins against him, dominated from the start, taking the serve from the American, too friable in the serve (4 double faults). And since she was effective with his (5 aces), it made sense that she had pocketed in the first round.
The second set was tighter, because if Sabalenka still broke the first, Pegula managed to cancel this delay by taking advantage of her rival’s temporary fever, also weighed down by too many double faults (7).
However, the Belarusian was able to put pressure on his opponent, to seize his serve and to take the lead 5-3.
But that’s not counting the 28-year-old American, who was able to react by dropping her shots to break. In vain because Sabalenka managed to get back in the game in the 12th game and finished in 1h32, rewarded by her aggression (19 winning shots against 12).
