It was the night of the Round of 16 stage of the Linz Open 2020 and the top-seeded player Aryna Sabalenka was up against Stefanie Voegele. It was not only important for Sabalenka to cement her place in the quarters but also to kick Serena Williams out of the top 10 WTA rankings and establish her place there.
In a one-sided contest, Sabalenka thrashed Voegele to win in straight sets. The final scoreline was 6-0, 6-3.
Before the tournament, Sabalenka was just 35 points behind Williams in the rankings. Williams was at the 10th position with 4080 points and Sabalenka was at the 11th spot with 4045 points.
With this win, she will surely end the year within the top 10 rankings. It is another setback for the tennis queen Serena Williams as she yet again fails to finish the year within the top 10 rankings.
After her return to tennis in 2017, Williams has not won a single Grand Slam title despite playing 4 finals. She recently got injured at the French Open 2020 due to an Achilles injury and will return to tennis at the Australian Open 2021.
Therefore, there is no way that she would be able to improve her rankings this year.
On the other hand, it has been a phenomenal year for Sabalenka who won twin titles at the Ostraka Open 2020 and looks strong to win the Linz Open 2020 title.
Set-1: Sheer Dominance by Aryna Sabalenka
In the very first set, Sabalenka saved 2 break-points and made her intentions quite clear. She broke in the next game and extended her lead to 2-0.
In the next game, Sabalenka did not even give Voegele a chance. She carried the momentum and won 4 back-to-back points to consolidate her lead to 3-0. Although Voegele gave a tough fight in the next game, Sabalenka broke again and the lead was 4-0. It was going towards a clear bagel.
Sabalenka was ruthless. She played some beautiful forehands to win 4 consecutive points to widen the margin to 5-0. In the next game, Sabalenka broke again after the game saw 2 deuces. She won the 26-minute long set without losing a single game.
Set-2: Sabalenka proceeds, Bad News for Serena Williams
Serving first, the World No.11 Sabalenka continued the momentum and won the first game. However, it was Voegele who finally won the first game of the match in the second game of the set. The scoreline was leveled at 1-1.
Sabalenka played brilliantly in the next game and saved 3 break-points. She again took the lead at 2-1. She broke in the subsequent game and was now leading 3-1. In the next game, Sabalenka again saved 3 break-points and was now just 2 games away.
Voegele did not give up easily and won the next game to narrow down the margin to 4-2. However, Sabalenka did not lose momentum and made a comeback to extend her lead to 5-2. Voegele managed a last gasp attempt and fought to bring the scoreline back to 5-3.
Serving for the set, Sabalenka did not take long and won the set 6-3 to seal the match.
