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A sombre and subdued Aryna Sabalenka beat Paula Badosa at the Miami Open presented by Itaú on a rain-delayed Friday when only 6 matches were completed, with seeds Coco Gauff, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Emma Navarro and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova all also advancing to the round of 32.
She is a very, very strong woman, strong personality. You can see it on the court… I know her off court, so it doesn’t surprise me at all. I knew she was going to play very well, or like normal. I told her I wish her the best, and let’s see if she can go deep in this tournament. Paula Badosa
Sabalenka, the World No 2 from Belarus, returned to the match court for the first time since the death of her former boyfriend, NHL ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, by apparent suicide earlier this week, but kept her emotions in check to beat Spain’s Badosa, 6-4 6-3, after an hour and 24 minutes.
There was a delay of some 6 hours for rain before Sabalenka walked out onto the Grandstand wearing an all-black outfit and cap, a choice that was matched by her close friend, Badosa.
The 2-time Australian Open champion stated on Wednesday that she was heartbroken by Koltsov’s death at the age of 42, also revealing that they had split up as a couple.
In the blustery conditions that played havoc with the ball toss, Sabalenka made a slow start to the match, but she finally broke to move 4-3 ahead in the opener, and never looked back from there on in to the finish line.
The Belarusian broke again in the 3rd game of the second set with a superb cross court forehand winner, and effectively produced too much power for Badosa to handle, wrapping up the win in straight sets.
They embraced warmly at the net, exchanging some few words with smiles, before leaving the court without an on-court interview.
There was no media call either, as Sabalenka has asked to be excused from her post-match press conferences at the tournament.
Later Badosa, who managed only one break point on Sabalenka’s serve but could not convert it, said: “She is a very, very strong woman, strong personality. You can see it on the court… I know her off court, so it doesn’t surprise me at all.
“I knew she was going to play very well, or like normal. I told her I wish her the best, and let’s see if she can go deep in this tournament.” added the Spaniard.
After receiving a bye in the 1st-round, Sabalenka takes her place in the Last 32 where she will take onAnhelina Kalinina, the World No 36 from Ukraine, who put paid to Caroline Wozniacki’s hopes in the 3 sets on Thursday.
There was a warm embrace between Aryna Sabalenka and her best friend Paula Badosa after the match on a rain-delayed Friday
© Al Bello/Getty Images
World No 3 Coco Gauff needed just 77 minutes to breeze past Nadia Podoroska, an Argentine qualifier, to begin her Miami Open campaign after the rain delay, 6-1 6-2, on the Stadium court.
With the continuing threat of yet more rain, Gauff, a 20-year-old South Florida native, eased past the World No 78 to book her spot in the 3rd-round, in no mood to hang about.
After a close start, Gauff attained a double break to go up 5-1, and, despite surviving a break point and failing to convert 2 set points, she easily pocketed the set.
The American broke to start the second and, having staved off break point chances for the Argentine, Gauff broke superbly to go 5-2 up before polishing off the match impressively.
The reigning US Open champion produced 5 aces, saved all 5 break points she faced on her own serve, and won 34 of her 39 first-serve points, an impressive 87%.
Gauff is staying at her family’s home at nearby Delray Beach this week, which can be both a good and bad thing, as one of her younger brothers interrupted her sleep earlier in the week.
“I had to text him … to, like, ‘Stop screaming’,” Gauff said. “He was playing a game and he said he was sorry. Other than that, it’s really nice and refreshing.”
Next up for her will be Oceane Dodin, a lucky loser from France, who replaced Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the No 29 seed, and then took out Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, 6-4 3-6 6-3.
Kostyuk withdrew before play began on Friday due to illness, significantly opening up that sector of the draw for Gauff.
3rd-seeded Coco Gauff made relatively light work of lucky loser Nadia Podoroska at the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday
© Brennan Asplen/Getty Images
The American’s was just one of the 6 completed matches on Friday, which saw 2 Russian players advance, after 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic, 6-3 6-4, and 21st-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova trounced American Shelby Rogers, 6-2 6-1.
In the previous round, Vekic, ranked No 34, took out Czech Karolina Pliskova, 6-4 2-6 6-2, while Rogers, ranked 325, had defeated another Czech, wild-card Linda Fruhvirtova, 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Alexandrova and Pavlyuchenkova will meet each other next for a place in the round of 16.
Emma Navarro, the No 20 seed from the United States, saw off Australian qualifier Storm Hunter, 6-4 6-3, in an hour and 29 minutes.
It was 29-year old Hunter, ranked 122, who started the match on the front foot, and broke the higher-ranked Navarro twice early to take a 4-1 lead in the first set.
The 22-year old American, however, turned the tables, and broke the Aussie’s serve 3 times on the trot to take the lead, while the second set proved to be more straightforward for Navarro.
Hunter, the World No 3 in doubles, is still alive in the women’s doubles and is partnering Czech player Katerina Siniakova. Both are former doubles No 1s.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 14 seed, defeated Donna Vekic, and will meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 21st seed, next
© Al Bello/Getty Images
After the initial 6 hour rain that delayed the start of the day’s play, more rain wiped out the rest of the scheduled play in the early evening.
World No 1 Iga Swiatek was among the 24 players to have their singles matches at the Miami Open postponed due to the persistent rain.
The impacted singles matches rescheduled for Saturday are:
- [1] Iga Swiatek vs Camila Giorgi
- Zhu Lin vs [5] Jessica Pegula
- Elina Avanesyan vs [6] Ons Jabeur
- [10] Daria Kasatkina vs [Q] Claire Liu (tbf – Kasatkina leads 2-0)
- [12] Jasmine Paolini vs [Q] Katie Volynets (tbf – Paolini leads 7-6, 4-5)
- Naomi Osaka vs [15] Elina Svitolina
- Sloane Stephens vs [19] Sorana Cirstea, (tbf – Cirstea leads 5-2)
- [23] Caroline Garcia vs Viktoriya Tomova (tbf – Garcia leads 3-0)
- Maria Timofeeva vs [26] Linda Noskova
- [30] Anastasia Potapova vs Danielle Collins
- Leylah Fernandez vs [Q] Emiliana Arango
Rain delayed the start of play for 6 hours at the Miami Open on Friday
© Al Bello/Getty Images
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