Sabalenka rebounds from slow start to keep title hopes alive in Rome

Aryna Sabalenka recovered from a set down to defeat Sofia Kenin in over two hours, avoiding the third-round fate that had already taken out three Top 5 seeds in Rome.

The third round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, for whatever reason, has proved to be a dangerous, stepping-off point for the very best players.

Three of the Hologic WTA Tour’s Top 5 seeds departed on Saturday and one day later, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka nearly joined them.

Sabalenka put together a rousing comeback to defeat Sofia Kenin 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to Monday’s Round of 16. The match ran 2 hours and 13 minutes. With titles in Miami and Madrid, Sabalenka has now won 21 of her past 23 matches.

“I was going really tough on myself,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “It was a tough match -- she played incredible tennis in the first set. It was a great fight and super happy to get this match.”

The World No. 1 has yet to win the crown in Rome -- or at Roland Garros, for that matter -- but with after Iga Swiatek’s early exit, is clearly the favorite. Sabalenka lost to Swiatek in the 2024 final here and, two years earlier, in the semifinals. The victory over Kenin had to be satisfying because it avenged a loss in her opening match in 2023.

Sabalenka has prevailed in four of their previous five matches.

During the course of the match, Sabalenka accumulated 23 break-point opportunities -- and converted seven of them. Those 23 break-point chances were the most ever for Sabalenka in a WTA Tour match.

The second game of the third set was epic. There were 10 deuces and, finally, Sabalenka converted her seventh break-point opportunity when a Kenin forehand sailed long.

That gave Sabalenka a 2-0 lead, but Kenin came back to break her -- at love -- and the players were back on serve. With Kenin serving at 2-3, Sabalenka scored the decisive break with some stout defense and, ultimately, an errant Kenin forehand.

Serving at 2-5, Kenin hit back-to-back double faults, her eighth and ninth of the match, giving Sabalenka a match point. Kenin saved that one and a second as well, forcing Sabalenka to serve it out.

Sabalenka has now won her past 14 matches in WTA 1000 events and compiled an impressive 34-10 record in those elite events on clay.

Sabalenka finished with 31 winners and leads all women with 1,017 for the year.

Next up for Sabalenka: Marta Kostyuk , who knocked off No. 24 Leylah Fernandez, on Monday.

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