After defeating Danish girl Towson to reach the round of 16 of the Australian Open, defending champion Sabalenka quickly appeared on the hot search. The round of 16 may seem like nothing to some, but it is another personal record for Sabalenka's career.
Sabalenka's arrival at this stage also brought Halep, who retired before the Australian Open, to be mentioned again.
Halep has never won the Australian Open, but she set a record between 2018 and 2022, reaching the round of 16 at Melbourne Park five years in a row. Now Sabalenka has equalled the record of former world number one at the Australian Open, and the Belarusian girl is considered by many to be the queen of hard courts.
The process of the game against Towson was completely different from the outside world's prediction before the game, and many people even bluntly said that their palms were sweating from the beginning to the end of the game, for fear that Sabalenka would collapse unexpectedly.
Before the game, many people saw Tausen and Sabalenka meet in the third round, and some people laughed at the time that the Danish girl was specially trained for Belarus and would inevitably be swept away.
But after the actual battle, everyone realized that Towson's tenacity and hard work were really seriously underestimated.
In the first set, Sabalenka not only did not allow Sabalenka to quickly open up the score gap, but also cooperated with the Belarusian girl to give everyone a wonderful climactic break battle, and took the lead to reach the commanding height of the first set 5-3, giving the defending champion a dismount.
Fortunately, Sabalenka withstood at the crucial moment and pushed the set to a tie-break. Even though the Belarusian girl finally won the first set through a tie-break, she won narrowly.
In the second set of the competition, not long after the start of the game, Sabalenka accompanied everyone on a roller coaster. The defending champions, who took the lead in the break, did not further extend the 2-1 advantage, but were tied by Towson, and unexpectedly fell into a hard battle, until 4-4, both of them played inextricably.
The most intense game of the entire match also took place in this set.
In the crucial ninth game, when neither of the two men would surrender easily, it took seven ties to decide the winner. It's hard to imagine what would have happened if Sabalenka hadn't been able to withstand pressure at the most crucial moments, won the game in a thrilling way, and then stabilized after the twists and turns of her own service game, and continued to wear down with Tauson.
Everyone was shocked for Sabalenka after the game, because Towson's tenacious and adventurous style of play put great pressure on the Belarusian girl, and even more troubles that she faced came one after another, so that she did not dare to take a breath in the whole game. The most obvious example of this is that not even a single ace was delivered, which is very rare in previous Sabalenka matches.
However, even in this extremely difficult situation, Sabalenka still ended the fight in two sets, which is admirable.
This is also the reason why many people shouted to Zheng Qinwen after the game, hoping that she can learn from Sabalenka.
In the eyes of fans and netizens, there are at least three aspects of the focus battle between Sabalenka and Tao Sen that are worth Zheng Qinwen's repeated speculation and learning.
After starting this year's Australian Open journey as the defending champion, Sabalenka is expected to advance to the next round with a sweep in almost every round, but the Belarusian girl has not won easily in each round and has repeatedly faced danger.
However, Sabalenka's magic is that even if the score is behind and she is passive in the situation, she always has a way to catch up, and then turn passive into active and have the last laugh.
This point is especially worth learning from Zheng Qinwen, which is also a necessary skill for top players. Some people said that if Zheng Qinwen can show Sabalenka's spirit of not fighting until the last moment and never giving up, she will not stop in the second round.
In addition, Sabalenka was still able to win the final victory in the face of Towson's pressing step by step, and some fans and netizens summed it up very reasonably, and her concentration from beginning to end was definitely a plus point for her victory.
This aspect is also what Zheng Qinwen is lacking at present, because the first sister of China said after losing that her concentration was affected after being punished by the referee for overtime. Now, Sabalenka has shown everyone by example that concentration is not affected by anything on the pitch, which is also a trait of top players, and this concentration is more able to get themselves through the difficult moments and take the initiative in the game.
The last point that Zheng Qinwen should learn from Sabalenka is how to win without a quick and concise scoring method like an ace.
In this regard, some netizens emphasized that in the game against Towson, although Sabalenka did not hit an ace, she was able to make up for it with a goal rate of up to 72%. This is another way to show that there are many ways to win, and it is not necessary to rely on a strong serve to set the tone for the game.
Fans and netizens summarized the three core points for Zheng Qinwen, whether the Chinese sister appreciates or pays attention, no one can give an accurate answer, but the quarterfinals against Andreeva are considered by everyone to be the beginning of Sabalenka's real challenge at this Australian Open, and they have all expressed their wait and see, what kind of different ways the Belarusian girl can show to win.
The two played each other in Brisbane this year, and although Sabalenka won in two sets, she still gave the Russian young girl a high opinion after the match, believing that she has a bright future. Evert mentioned Andreeva even more bluntly, as Andreeva gets older and makes up for the current lack of strength, she will definitely achieve great achievements in tennis in the future.
Then, with the mentality of revenge for Brisbane, she will play Sabalenka again at the Australian Open, and I believe that Andreeva will definitely perform differently, challenge the hegemony of the Belarusian girl in the Australian Open, and create great trouble for the defending champion. It seems that Sabalenka wants to be one step closer to successfully defending her title, and she really has to be careful against the Russian young girl, after all, her current form has not been adjusted to the best!(Source: Tennis House Author: Starry Sky of Moon River)