Aryna Sabalenka believes she has to be ‘fearless’ during matches if she wants to become a better player after booking her place in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open.
The world No.1 produced a 6-1, 7-5 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Wednesday to move into the last eight of a WTA 1000 event for the 29th time in her career. Among active players, only Victoria Azarenka (38) and Petra Kvitova (36) have reached more. In terms of match wins, Sabalenka is one of the most successful female players at the Cincinnati Open in the Open Era with 21 victories. The only players to have achieved more wins than her are Jelena Jankovic (24), Serena Williams (23) and Simona Halep (23).
During her latest tournament, Sabalenka has noticeably been working on her net play with the help of her team, which includes newly appointed consultant Max Mirnyi.
“I feel really comfortable approaching the net, but then I make some really not smart decisions at the net, but I feel really confident,” Sabalenka explained during an interview with The Tennis Channel.
“I’m hoping that by the end of the week, I’ll improve that stat and I’ll be much better at the net.”
Instead of solely working on this area of her game on the practice courts, the 27-year-old explains it is important that she also does this when playing matches on the Tour.
“I feel like this is the best way to practice something, to practice under pressure. It’s really tough to do,” she said.
“You have to be fearless in some way to do that. But I feel like I have to do that if I want to be better. So I’m pretty confident on court to do something new every time.”
Stating that she is ‘moving in the right direction,’ Sabalenka’s next test will be against former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. A player whom she leads 7-4 in their head-to-head. Rybakina is seeded ninth in the tournament and beat Madison Keys 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2, in her latest match.
“It’s going to be an aggressive match. Two big servers and we played a lot of great battles in the past,” said Sabalenka.
“I always enjoyed playing against her and it’s just going to be another great match, another great opportunity to work on something new to improve my tennis.”
