If a tennis fan had to wager where Aryna Sabalenka would finally end her strangely dissonant never-reached-a-Grand-Slam-singles-quarterfina...
If a tennis fan had to wager where Aryna Sabalenka would finally end her strangely dissonant never-reached-a-Grand-Slam-singles-quarterfinal record, the hard courts would be the top choice, followed by French Open’s clay.
Yet, the 23-year-old has upended all stakes by reaching her first Major singles quarter-final and semi-final at Wimbledon, in perhaps one of the bigger and more pleasant surprises at the business end of the Championships. On grass, a surface she has had middling results on in the past, the girl with the tiger tattoo has found a way to balance her ballistic ball-striking with composure and crack the Grand Slam code impressively.
On a women’s quarter-final day where all four matches ended in straight sets, Sabalenka perhaps the toughest test on hand. Playing the versatile and in-form Ons Jabeur, the second seed was almost an underdog. Her grass court and Grand Slam record aside, Sabalenka was up against a player who had bested Major winners Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek back-to-back with her all-court craft. The Belarusian is a fearsome hitter from the baseline but her big serve and booming groundstrokes can blow hot-and-cold.
It was a fascinating clash of styles that was won 6-4, 6-3 by the controlled power trumping guile, a sight...
