[Ballbasher]

Aryna continues her streak and marches into her third consecutive final. I am very surprised she has come this far. Her match against Hercog and it was far from a quality encounter and only entertaining for the drama really. Certainly improved throughout this week!

 

[MalJackson]

Raw untamed power.

 

[Italy 11]

Today Aryna was just unstoppable! She played a very good match and she controlled her power. I don't know if you saw the statistics of the match, she hit 8 aces, only a double fault, 22 winners and 8 unforced errors! Just amazing. I hope that she wins the title because she deserves it!

 

[Kurmay3Katti]

Nothing much Sakkari could have done barring the beginning where she again had a slow start. Sabalenka was peaking in the first set, she lost only 1 point in the first 3 games, and made only 1 UE up till her service game at 5-1. She had a bit of a wobble serving it out but got it done the next time around. In the second set at 2-2 she wasted 3 BPs via cheap return UEs at 0-40 and it looked like the momentum could potentially shift, but she broke anyway that game, then relaxed and resumed her steamrolling.

Overall a good week for Sakkari, she got some solid wins. Hope she has a good run at AO!

Can't see Aryna losing the final, but we'll see. Also, another thing to see is whether she'll finally make a slam QF!

 

[Veesus Christ]

Blistering performance by Sabalenka. Completely dominant from start to finish and her aggression was surprisingly controlled as well. The serve was also at its peak - normally she at least DFs a couple of times per game, today only one (and eight aces). A great momentum player too, who generally gets better as a tournament goes along.

Sakkari was beaten by a better player (shame they were on the same side of the draw), but she does need to start finding more solutions before she ends up Aryna’s pigeon. Definitely can work on her return and hitting on the run, but the progress is clear and this is a great week for her before her ‘home’ slam.

Hopefully this is the year Aryna can take this kind of form into a slam. Even Sakkari’s slam results are noticeably better (two R4 and eight R3 compared to Aryna’s one R4 and two R3). I have to think it’s just a matter of time.

 

[MalJackson]

Her power is hard to contain on courts like this. Only the best defenders can stay with her.

One big question remains, can she do it in a slam.

Will always be 2nd favourite vs the likes of Osaka, Andreescu, Barty and Halep.

She needs to change this big match mental block in slams or maybe hope for the stars to align in terms of the draw.

 

[Slayla]

I don’t wanna toot my own horn , but ... called it from day one .
This is exactly the type of tournament that Aryna loves . No pressure , very good opponents , but not great, fast surface , low stakes , many points.
Congrats

 

[Elheather]

Looks like Aryna is going to get her 9th trophy and the 8th seed in AO. I'll repeat it as many times as I want to so I can make myself believe it...this is the year when Aryna finally makes QF or better in a slam.

 

[zim]

First six games was virtually perfect. I don’t remember the last time I saw that kind of level from a player. It was better than anything produced by Azarenka or Osaka at the US Open.

 

[goat]

Wowza, go Sabs.

 

[Kurmay3Katti]

Aryna continues her streak and marches into her third consecutive final. I am very surprised she has come this far. Her match against Hercog and it was far from a quality encounter and only entertaining for the drama really. Certainly improved throughout this week!

It was quite windy in the earlier rounds and coupled with the fact that it was the beginning of the season made all the players be a bit shaky at first. Hercog's umpteenth choke made it at least a straight-sets win for her!

 

[Elheather]

Also, serious question...I admit I am a homer but still, am I the only one that believes that peak Sabalenka is one of the best when compared to other peak players? I can only think of a small handful of players that when peak vs peak can still defeat Sabalenka. Sakkari wasn't exactly that bad today, but she just couldn't really do much of anything and was overwhelmed.

Now, whether she can bring that rare peak in a slam is a totally different question.

 

[Akhira]

Sabalenka clearly knows how to hit a tennis ball properly but she makes a variety of ugly shrieks that makes it so hard to watch her tennis.

 

[Slayla]

Also, serious question...I admit I am a homer but still, am I the only one that believes that peak Sabalenka is one of the best when compared to other peak players? I can only think of a small handful of players that when peak vs peak can still defeat Sabalenka. Sakkari wasn't exactly that bad today, but she just couldn't really do much of anything and was overwhelmed.

Now, whether she can bring that rare peak in a slam is a totally different question.

Peak Sabalenka is amazing . The problem with peak sabalenka though is , it usually doesn’t even last for a whole tournament . Even if she wins it , for example , she is not gonna play as well today as she did yesterday .
Where as peak Naomi can keep that level the entire tournament .
But yeah, peak Sabalenka blows you out of the game and you have nothing to say.

 

[Akhira]

I have no problerm with grunting in tennis as it’s part of the game but screamabalenka needs to tone it the f down.

 

[Elheather]

Peak Sabalenka is amazing . The problem with peak sabalenka though is , it usually doesn’t even last for a whole tournament . Even if she wins it , for example , she is not gonna play as well today as she did yesterday .
Where as peak Naomi can keep that level the entire tournament .
But yeah, peak Sabalenka blows you out of the game and you have nothing to say.

Actually, Naomi has trouble keeping it the whole tournament as well...it just is that she makes it so it only goes up and stays in the later half. I think that is why she has such a skewed GS result, if she doesn't get a floating bomb in her early rounds she can go on a roll. Her hamstring was also an issue as well, but during the USO last year she was quite meh during the first few rounds, but from mid-Kostyuk match she just cranked it up, up, and up and just peaked. Just watching her matches the first three rounds I was sure she'd lose to Kontaveit in the 4R.

Sabalenka seems to peak in middle of the tournament and bring a random peak somewhere other than the finals.

 

['JCau98]

Watch out women of the WTA, Aryna Sabalenka is coming to snatch ALL of your wigs!
However, her grunt is probably the most annoying on tour atm. If it wasn't for that, I'd be a fan of hers.
She's starting to win me over tho, I'll admit! Her fierceness and raw power is amazing to see!

 

[Elheather]

Her power is hard to contain on courts like this. Only the best defenders can stay with her.

One big question remains, can she do it in a slam.

Will always be 2nd favourite vs the likes of Osaka, Andreescu, Barty and Halep.

She needs to change this big match mental block in slams or maybe hope for the stars to align in terms of the draw.

The mental block is the issue but I really believe she finally, finally, fiiiiiinally got past it. In terms of the draw, with the 8th seed I think as long as she doesn't get in the same block as Serena or a resurgent Azarenka, I think she'll get QF this time. I don't see anyone seed 17 and below that Sabalenka will have trouble defeating in terms of ability.

 

[zhusun]

Can she keep this up to Melbourne?

 

[Andy.]

I just find her stroke production so rough and muscled...its not smooth at all and I find it so hard to warm to her.

That being said its nice to see a top players actually committed to playing on the tour