Sabalenka, Pliskova smash marathon tennis mode
The 2021 National Bank Open Canadian women's tennis championships has been marked by three-set marathons lasting longer than two hours, but heavy hitters Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Pliskova bucked that trend in quarter-final action Friday.
Sabalenka, the No. 1 seed, needed one hour and 19 minutes to defeat eight-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-4 in an all-belarus showdown.
Pliskova, the No. 4 seed from the Czech Republic, was on the court for a minute longer as she rolled past unseeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 6-0.
The semifinal shapes up as a battle between two of the most powerful players on the women's tour. Their three previous meetings have all gone to three sets. Sabalenka holds a 2-1 edge but the Czech won their most recent match in the semifinals at Wimbledon earlier this year.
“I don't expect too many long rallies because we both like to go for winners,” said Pliskova.
That was evident in the opening match as Salabenka had 33 winners to just eight from Azarenka. Sabalenka also won 74 per cent of points behind her first serve and had a 7-2 edge in aces. But Salabenka's all-or-nothing approach also resulted in seven double faults.
Sabalenka needed five break points to go ahead 2-0 and she raced to a 5-1 lead before Azarenka broke for 5-2. Any chance of a comeback ended when Sabalenka used her power to get the break back and close out the set.
The one time Sabalenka deviated from her game plan was in the opening game of the second set. Facing a break point at 30-40, she attempted a drop shot that landed in the net. The set remained on serve until Sabalenka broke at 4-3 and broke again in the 10th game for a 6-4 win.
Azarenka, who was hoping to reach the Canadian Open semifinals for the first time since 2011, couldn't explain losing her serve at 4-3.
“Honestly, I don't remember,” said Azarenka. “But I think I had some opportunities in that game and didn't take them.”
Pliskova was down an early break in the opening set, against Sorribes Tormo but she turned the match around and won the last 10 games. She broke the Spaniard six times and won 85 per cent of points on Sorribes Tormo's second serve.
“I think I started not so well today,” said Pliskova. (I was) maybe tired in the beginning because I had lot of matches in the last couple days actually, and the conditions are not so easy. I think I really improved my game, especially at the end of the first set, and of course the second set I think I did some good job, good points there, much better serving than in the first set. Luckily I won in two sets today.”
Pliskova said she expected Sabalenka to play the same aggressive style she displayed on the grass at Wimbledon.
“I don't think people really, really change their game,” said Pliskova. “Once you have, like, this kind of game, I don't think you can go to something completely different just like in couple weeks because is different surface. “We met on hard court. We met on grass. I think she's just, like, smashing everything. Maybe, of course, on grass some balls are tougher to get. Maybe the serve is tougher to just block somehow because it's, like, faster, kind of stays lower. Also, here I feel like it's pretty fast, quite windy the last couple days.”