Aryna Sabalenka continued her quest for a maiden title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a hard-fought win over Jasmine Paolini in the semi-finals on Sunday.
The world No.1 battled her way to a 6-4, 7-5, victory over the Italian in a roller-coaster match that featured 10 breaks of serve. Despite only winning 33% of her second service points, Sabalenka’s powerful hitting proved pivotal as she hit 30 winners which was three times more than that of her opponent.
“She (Paolini) makes me work for every point,” Sabalenka said of the match.
“She’s such a great player and it’s always tough battles against her. I always have to work and fight really hard to get the win.
“I don’t know what made the difference at the end. I was just trying to stay aggressive. I was trying to put as many balls back on that side and put as much pressure as I could on her, and I’m really happy with the win.”
In both sets, Sabalenka was sternly tested physically and mentally. During the opener, she looked to be in full control by racing out to a 5-2 lead before getting pegged back by Paolini, who reached two Grand Slam finals last year. Then in another twist, the top seed broke once again before finally sealing a 7-5 lead after more than 50 minutes of play.
Heading into the second frame, Sabalenka was forced to fight her way back from a 0-3 deficit by winning six out of the next seven games to move into her fourth Stuttgart final. Sabalenka is yet to win the title after finishing runner-up in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
“Whenever it’s an important moment, I start to move better, I start to swing the ball a bit aggressively, like trying to play in a bigger target, but still swing really aggressively,” Sabalenka said when asked how she overcame some tricky moments in her latest match.
“I guess the key is to focus on myself and stay aggressive as much as I can.”
Ostapenko next
Awaiting Sabalenka in Monday’s final will be former Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian world No.24 defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-4, in her semi-final match. It is the sixth time Ostapenko has beaten Alexandrova on the Tour out of 11 meetings and the fourth time she has done so in a row. In their latest clash, she won 68% of her first service points and dropped serve only once.
”I always knew my game was there”, said Ostapenko, who is through to her first singles final on clay since winning the 2017 French Open.
“I always believed in myself and that’s the most important thing. I believe I can beat everyone.”
The 24-year-old’s victory comes a day after she extended her perfect record against Iga Swiatek to six wins against zero losses. She has more wins over the former world No.1 than any other player. Earlier in the tournament, Ostapenko also beat seventh seed Emma Navarro and Dayana Yastremska (via retirement).
“So pumped up. Those kinds of matches, winning three sets, gives you confidence,” she said of her win over Swiatek in the previous round.
“I was putting a lot of balls in. I am very happy with myself.”
In their head-to-head, Sabalenka leads Ostapenko 3-0 and has only lost one set against her so far. However, she isn’t underestimating her rival ahead of their next clash.
“She’s playing great tennis right now,” said Sabalenka.
“I’m going to go out there tomorrow and fight like it’s the first match.”
It is the fifth time this season that Sabalenka has reached a WTA final.
