{"id":62358,"date":"2024-02-20T14:22:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T14:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/sabalenka-crashes-out-to-vekic-in-dubai-opener-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T14:22:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T14:22:20","slug":"sabalenka-crashes-out-to-vekic-in-dubai-opener-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/sabalenka-crashes-out-to-vekic-in-dubai-opener-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabalenka crashes out to Vekic in Dubai opener | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nDUBAI:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> suffered an opening round upset at the hands of familiar foe Donna Vekic, going down 6-7 (5\/7), 6-3, 6-0 in Dubai on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Contesting her first match since her successful title defence at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka blew a 7-6, 2-0 lead to succumb to her Croatian opponent in two hours and 22 minutes.<\/p>\n

The 31st-ranked Vekic, who now owns a 6-2 head-to-head lead in lifetime meetings against Sabalenka, was aggressive throughout the match and enters her next clash with big-hitting Romanian Sorana Cirstea searching for her first WTA 1000 quarter-final of her career.<\/p>\n

“At all times I didn’t give up. I didn’t stop believing that I can win. I just kept fighting,” said Vekic, who is 9-13 against top-five opposition.<\/p>\n

“To be honest, I didn’t have big expectations coming to Dubai. Told my coach that I’m taking this week as half holidays. I can tell you I spent more time on the beach than on the court. Maybe that’s a good way going forward,” she added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

In windy but warm conditions in Dubai, Sabalenka recovered from a break down then squandered a 5-3 lead before securing the opening set on her sixth opportunity on the 69-minute mark.<\/p>\n

The world number two leapt to a 2-0 advantage in the second set but Vekic struck back and claimed another crucial break in game eight to level the contest and force a decider.<\/p>\n

With the wind in her sails, Vekic put together a nine-game winning run, outhitting her powerful opponent, to deliver a final-set bagel and book her place in the last 16.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Centre Court, eighth seed Maria Sakkari snapped a three-match losing streak and claimed her first-ever Dubai main-draw victory, on her fourth attempt, with a 6-2 6-4 triumph over in-form American Emma Navarro.<\/p>\n

After suffering opening round exits in Abu Dhabi and Doha, Sakkari was admittedly nervous ahead of her clash with Navarro, who is already a title-winner in 2024 and has amassed 13 victories in the first two months of the season.<\/p>\n

“It was very tough. Last night I couldn’t sleep just because I was overthinking about it and it wasn’t easy. No one wants to keep losing first round. But I told myself to treat it as the first match of the season. Obviously it wasn’t my best, best tennis but it was good enough to beat a top-form player,” said Sakkari, who faces Leylah Fernandez or Jasmine Paolini next.<\/p>\n

Sakkari is in search of a new coach having ended her six-year partnership with Tom Hill. The Greek world number 11 briefly worked with Sergi Bruguera during the offseason and after the Australian Open but needs to find a full-time coach given Bruguera’s commitment to ATP player Arthur Fils. She is confident she will have found a new coach by the time Indian Wells commences next month.<\/p>\n

Speaking of her split with Hill, Sakkari said: “It was very tough. I just felt like we couldn’t really help each other, we couldn’t move forward but we remain very, very good friends, that’s never going to change.”<\/p>\n

In Dubai, Sakkari is joined by her mother Angeliki, who is a former top-50 WTA player, and her hitting partner Julien Cagnina.<\/p>\n

“She’s my emergency coach, that’s what I call her,” said Sakkari of her mother. “It’s nice to have her, we’ve been going out for dinners every day, it’s been a very relaxing week with them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBAI: Reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka suffered an opening round upset at the hands of familiar foe Donna Vekic, going down 6-7 (5\/7), 6-3, 6-0 in Dubai on Tuesday. Contesting her first match since her successful title defence at Melbourne Park, Sabalenka blew a 7-6, 2-0 lead to succumb to her Croatian opponent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-02-20-at-5-25-59-PM1708432058-0\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-02-20-at-5-25-59-PM1708432058-0.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t