Aryna Sabalenka moving past Australian Open heartbreak

INDIAN WELLS – Aryna Sabalenka said the grief she felt after falling short in her bid for a third successive Australian Open crown was subsiding following her second-round win at the Indian Wells Open on March 8.

The world No. 1 had smashed her racket and covered her face with a towel and sobbed after losing to American Madison Keys in the final at Melbourne Park in January.

The Belarusian suffered early exits at the Qatar Open and in Dubai since but was in full command of her formidable serve on March 8, never facing a break point as she overpowered talented American McCartney Kessler 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

“I’d say that after the final in Australia, I was really heartbroken,” she told reporters.

“It was very difficult to recover after that one, and Middle East I was, kind of like, in my thoughts, I was trying to understand.

“I was always thinking about that match. It was probably my mistake, but I think I had to go through it. I had to realise a couple of things.

“I had to step back and start everything over again. Right now, I’m definitely feeling better and that final was in the past.”

“Just good experience, great lesson, and hopefully it will never happen again,” she added with a smile.

The three-time Grand Slam champion said Indian Wells, where she finished runner-up in 2023, is the perfect place to reset.

“Indian Wells feels like a Grand Slam,” she said. “And back-to-back Indian Wells, Miami Open. I love this tournament. For me, feels pretty big. Psychologically I think it’s not that tough.”

Sabalenka faces unseeded Italian Lucia Bronzetti in the third round on March 10.

Also recovering from the year’s opening Slam is Coco Gauff.

The world No. 3 secured her first win since the Australian Open on March 8, scratching out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima.

Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, coughed up 21 double faults among a stream of unforced errors and was often clearly frustrated.

She said she would have liked to play better, but after dropping her opening matches at WTA tournaments in Qatar and Dubai in the wake of her Australian Open quarter-final exit, she was not complaining.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks, and I’m just happy to get a win on the court,” Gauff said. “No one likes to lose, and I came in here with determination. It wasn’t my best tennis, but a win is a win.”

Like all the seeds in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, Gauff had a first-round bye, while Uchijima, ranked 52nd, beat Britain’s Emma Raducanu in straight sets in the first round.

Gauff appeared to have taken control when she took a 4-0 lead in the third set over an opponent who had received treatment from a trainer before the set.

The American twice failed to serve out the match but finally put it away in the tiebreak on her fifth match point.

She earned a third-round meeting with Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who also snapped a three-match skid with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.

Sakkari beat Gauff in the semi-finals here in 2024 to reach her second Indian Wells final in three years.

Meanwhile, Keys crushed Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-0 in her first match as a Grand Slam champion and will next face Elise Mertens. REUTERS, AFP