The mid-final match of the US Open 2023 between the already first racket in the world, the Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, and the American representative Madison Keys, promised to be a battle from the beginning. It cannot be any other way, the scenario of the biggest Grand Slam tournament is too serious.
And Sabalenka started… very badly. It couldn’t have been worse. Arina immediately returned her serve, but during her opponent’s rallies she clearly couldn’t catch the rhythm. It seemed that such a depressing first set by the Belarusian athlete would not lead to anything good. However, it was not thought that the future first racket in the world (which would become her after the end of the tournament) would meekly give up the first game with “zero” in the column of games won. At this level, this is almost nonsense.
The number 17 racket in the world, and also owner of the New York courts, Madison Keys, was clearly helped by the walls in her fight. Furthermore, in the final the girl faced her compatriot Cori Gauff. It could have been a historic battle, because the Americans have not faced each other in a long time on their home courts. Having unconditionally won the first set 6:0, it seemed that Victoria was already very close to her. Few people in tennis can recover mentally and physically from a slap like that.
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At the beginning of the second set, with the score 2:1 in favor of Keys, Sabalenka included her colleagues (Bublik, Ostapenko, Rublev) on paper. She was so upset by her game that she broke the racket in her anger, accompanying this action with a whole series of brilliant obscenities. Also, the bad words were not in Belarusian. Arina gave an emotional speech on the podium where the coach of the title was sitting. In response to the phrase “Once a year and the stick shoots,” directed at Madison, the mentor encouraged Arina with the words: “Come on, come on, we haven’t lost yet!” And they didn’t really lose. Subsequent events showed that this was almost a turning point in the game.
Sabalenka explained why she insulted her coach in the US Open semifinals
Keys broke twice in the second set (4-2, 5-3). It seemed, well, where could Arina resist anymore? But she stubbornly stood her ground. First, she recovered from this deadly deficit and then took the second set to a tiebreaker, in which she left no stone unturned against the United States representative. 6:7 (1:7). This turning point allowed Arina to get to work with renewed vigor and believe that everything was starting again. It was a very high quality match, with many powerful hits and shootouts on the baseline.
In the middle of the decisive set, the Belarusian lost her serve again with the score 3:2 in favor of Keys, but, remembering past torments, she quickly recovered. And Madison began to make too many unforced errors, she felt general fatigue and some moral devastation after the lost victory in the second game. Thus, the third set reached the second tie-break of this semifinal matchup without problems.
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And again, Arina was more than good. When the score reached 3:7 in favor of Sabalenka, the tennis player began to rejoice prematurely, thinking that she had already won, but she forgot that in the last set of the US Open a “tiebreak for the championship” is played and the confrontation continues until the end. number 10″. Arina very quickly made the difference with the help of killer serves, she slowed down a little, but at the finish line 3:9 became 5:9. It seemed that another comeback was waiting for us, but no. After a brief exchange of blows, Keys struck out and ended her tournament performance 6:0, 6:7, 6:7 In the final, Arina will play another American, Cori Gauff, and will no longer be easy.
