Aryna Sabalenka escapes Laura Siegemund upset at Wimbledon

New York Times

a day ago

CENTRE COURT, THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB — How can the world No. 1 beating a player ranked outside of the world's top 100 feel so seismic?
When the world No. 1 is Aryna Sabalenka and her opponent is the mind-bending Laura Siegemund. When Sabalenka is coming off the back of a devastating French Open final defeat, in which she admitted that the emotions of not being the protagonist got the better of her. And when there is a Wimbledon semifinal on the line. Given that context, this was a monumental test for Sabalenka, and passing it with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win makes it one of the most satisfying results of her career.
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Sabalenka hates not being in control of a match. In Paris, it was the wind and her resolute opponent Coco Gauff that drove her to distraction. On Tuesday at Wimbledon, it was Siegemund, a player who does everything on her own terms and who is peerless when it comes to getting inside her opponents' heads.
Having first trailed by a set, and then by a break in the deciding set, this was a hugely impressive display of fortitude and mental clarity from Sabalenka. For long stretches, this looked like another day when she could not quieten the doubts swirling around her.
She had to do that plenty against Siegemund, the world No. 104 from Germany, who exudes main-character energy. She had said pre-match that she didn't care about the 103 ranking places she was giving up to the world No. 1, and that she would impose herself as she does every match. Siegemund is one of the toughest competitors on the tour, who plays at a pace so slow it can infuriate her opponents.
Her game has also belatedly developed into a nightmare on grass for the rest of the field.
One minute she was playing a disguised drop shot, the next she was sneaking into the net off a blocked return. Crucially, she could also inject some pace and smack a winner from the baseline. A bit like Alexander Bublik on the men's side, it's the power to go with the touch game that separates her from players like Corentin Moutet and Tatjana Maria who have plenty of the latter but lack the former.
Sabalenka, a U.S. Open champion and two-time Australian Open winner, is the opposite. She's been far and away the tour's dominant player on hard courts, but she is desperate to win a Grand Slam on one of the natural surfaces to underscore her evolution from big hitter to all-court player. Everything during that exhausting run in Paris and again here at Wimbledon has been about that target.
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And yet Sabalenka is having to accept that while she may be the most powerful player on the tour, that doesn't mean everything is in her control.
Siegemund made good on her pledge to show no fear against the world No. 1, and raced into an early 3-0, double-break lead. The first set was back and forth from there, but Sabalenka struggled badly on her first serve. She won just 59 percent of points behind it in the opener, way down from figures of 78, 88, 62 and 84 in her first four matches this tournament.
Once points started, Sabalenka couldn't find any rhythm against such an unpredictable opponent. Siegemund had the audacity to hit drop-shot returns against one of the WTA's biggest servers, and she lured Sabalenka to the net before nonchalantly flicking passing shots into the corners. Siegemund seemed to recognise that while Sabalenka is an accomplished volleyer, she's a lot less comfortable at the net when she doesn't arrive there on her terms.
Siegemund, who was bidding to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at 37, most effectively absorbed Sabalenka's pace, sending it back to awkward positions in the court. This added to the frustration the world No. 1 was feeling, which manifested in her smacking a ball away after being broken early in the second set. Siegemund has a psychology degree and has an uncanny knack for knowing how to most infuriate her opponents. Against Sabalenka, anyone who can make her keep hitting extra balls — as Coco Gauff did in the French Open final last month — has a chance of getting in her head.
But she's also the runaway world No. 1 for a reason, and Siegemund's brilliance forced Sabalenka to raise her game. There was one extraordinary point, with Sabalenka serving up 4-2 in the second set, when Siegemund's barely believable defence, including a volley from close to the baseline, kept forcing Sabalenka into another shot. When she finally won the point with a smash, the Belarusian let out a roar that felt like a vocalization of all her frustrations of the previous hour and a half.
After Sabalenka won the set a game later, both players left the court. Siegemund was gone for so long that upon returning Sabalenka started practising serves to stay warm. All within the rules, all adding to the tension that Sabalenka was feeling.
The eight-minute break seemed to help Siegemund reset. She broke to love for 2-1, and then had Sabalenka on the turf holding her arms out in disbelief after missing a makeable forehand pass. There were big cheers from the crowd two points later, when Siegemund received a time violation before serving two points later Siegemund was given a time violation before serving.
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In the very next game, Sabalenka smacked the net in frustration after missing another makeable forehand. The Siegemund plan was working perfectly, with Sabalenka well and truly under her spell. The world No. 1 hates not being the protagonist at all times, and here she was up against someone who does everything on her own terms. Sabalenka even reacted in frustration when she won some points, annoyed at having to play in a manner that she did not dictate.
Siegemund got away with some strange shot selection when pushing for a double break at 3-1, rebounding after losing own serve to move ahead again for 4-3. She was helped by Sabalenka double-faulting when up game point, pushing for too much on the serve having not hit an ace all day in the face of Siegemund's dogged defending.
But for the final few games, it always felt as if Siegemund would have to break to win the match, rather than hold.
Siegemund had become tentative behind the second shot after her serve, pushing two forehand slices long as Sabalenka restored parity, despite the German having a point to lead 5-3. The world No. 1 then raced through her next service game to put the pressure firmly on Siegemund for the first time.
It was too much. Siegemund missed two simple balls in the net, before producing one last exquisite drop shot to save a first match point. But Sabalenka skipped forward to slam away a volley at the net on the second, setting up a semifinal against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia or the American No. 13 seed Amanda Anisimova.
She was on the brink and looked as though she was heading the same way as in that French Open final, but as great champions do, Sabalenka found a way.
She has had more emphatic wins, she has had more aesthetically pleasing ones, but few will have felt as precious as this one. Frazzled in Paris, and asked to cope with one of the strangest, most confusing tests in tennis, Sabalenka ultimately showed her best self.