Belarusian professional tennis player Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday defeated Kazakh athlete Elena Rybakina and won her first grand slam in three sets at the Australian Open tournament
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2023) Belarusian professional tennis player Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday defeated Kazakh athlete Elena Rybakina and won her first grand slam in three sets at the Australian Open tournament.
The Australian Open is taking place in Melbourne from January 8-29.
Sabalenka won 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4, losing the first to Rybakina, who was the first Kazakh player to win a Wimbledon champion title.
Sabalenka made 17 aces and 7 double faults, actively won 51 balls, made 28 unforced errors and earned three break points out of 13, while Rybakina had 9 aces, one double fault, 31 actively won balls, 25 unforced errors and two break points out of 7. The athletes were playing for 2 hours 28 minutes.
The Belarusian athlete took part in the tournament as a neutral player in accordance with the rules introduced for Russian and Belarusian athletes because of Moscow's special operation in Ukraine.
Sabalenka is 24 years old and she has been ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association.
In October, Australian Open director Craig Tiley said that Russian or Belarusian players would be able to perform in the tournament only under neutral status due to sanctions introduced in response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
In March, the International Tennis Federation suspended the Russian and Belarusian tennis federations and canceled all tournaments in these countries under the auspices of the organization in response to Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine. Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete in tournaments under the auspices of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and as neutral athletes.
