Aryna Sabalenka overcomes ‘crazy nightmare’ against Sloane Stephens

Aryna Sabalenka hopes her entertaining clash with Sloane Stephens will convince the French public that women deserve more night sessions at Roland Garros.
French Open organisers have once again been criticised for the gender inequality in terms of scheduling as six of the seven night sessions have featured men this year with the Sabalenka-Stephens encounter the first women’s clash to be played in the evening at Court Philippe Chatrier.
It was a similar story last year with nine out of the 10 night sessions featuring men’s matches.
Sabalenka and Stephens, though, duo certainly produced an absorbing evening as the former initially raced into a 5-0 lead before her American rival countered with two breaks of her own to take the set to a tie-breaker.
The Australian Open champion held off the fighting Stephens to take the first set and then broke twice in the second set for a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory.
“I’m super happy with this win, especially against a tough opponent in Sloane. The first set was a little hit crazy, it was a nightmare,” Sabalenka said in the Eurosport Cube.
“It was something unbelievable and she played unbelievable tennis. I think I got a little bit lucky in the first set and it gave me so much power and belief for the second. I’m super happy with this win.”
As for being involved in the first women’s night match at Roland Garros this year, the world No 2 admits she was surprised that there was a big crowd.
“I didn’t feel extra pressure but I saw a couple of tweets from people saying they didn’t like how they’d put a woman’s match on at night,” she continued.
“So I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or if people would come to watch us play. I was surprised there were a lot of people there going crazy. I think they enjoyed our match and will ask for a women’s match the next day.”
Next up for Sabalenka is Elina Svitolina as the Ukrainian continued her brilliant run with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Daria Kasatkina.
Sabalenk added: “[Svitolina is] playing really great tennis here in Paris, moving well. Another player [that’s] gonna run a lot and put a lot of balls back, and I just have to be patient and wait for that perfect shot to finish the point.”
READ MORE: Aryna Sabalenka avoiding regular media duties citing mental health concerns
Watch every moment from Roland-Garros LIVE and exclusive ondiscovery+, Eurosport and Eurosport App
Latest
-
Tennis Features
Six ways clay courts are superior to hard courts
Clay courts often get a bad rap with the odd player gripe repeated endlessly in the media, but the surface has a number of big upsides.
-
Tennis News
WATCH: Intense Felix Auger-Aliassime brushes off Laver Cup spat with Gael Monfils
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gael Monfils shared some heated moments after the Canadian complained to the umpire during their Laver Cup clash.
-
ATP Tour
More questions for Andy Murray to answer after another agonising defeat
Andy Murray blew an early lead as he crashed to defeat against Aslan Karatsev in the last 16.
-
Tennis News
Roger Federer reveals what he misses about tennis as Rafael Nadal surprises him
Speaking in an interview with former world No 1 Jim Courier at the Laver Cup, the 20-time Grand Slam champion reflected on how his life chan
-
US Open
Top coach spotted Coco Gauff’s potential very early on
Patrick Mouratoglou has revealed that Coco Gauff left a big impression on him during their first meeting.
-
Tennis News
British star set for rankings breakthrough after a decade on the ATP Tour
Liam Broady set to break into the top 100 of the ATP rankings for the first time.
-
Tennis News
Guadalajara proves a balm for Maria Sakkari’s suffering once again
Maria Sakkari feels that the bond between herself and Guadalajara has grown closer after another deep run in the Mexican city.
-
Tennis News
Novak Djokovic hits raw nerve with tennis chiefs after latest controversial comments
Djokovic has made some radical proposals that would ensure the huge amounts of cash being generated by gambling goes to tennis players.
-
Tennis News
Ben Shelton salutes the three players who have taken him under their wing
Ben Shelton has paid homage to the brotherhood of the top American men in the game.
-
Tennis News
Can Cameron Norrie still reach the ATP Tour finals powered by strong Asian swing?
Cameron Norrie is out to reach the ATP Tour finals this term.