Aryna Sabalenka was ‘angry with coach’ as she addresses Anton Dubrov’s decision to leave court
Aryna Sabalenka remains unbeaten at the WTA Finals, but her win over Jessica Pegula had a bit of everything as there was brilliant tennis, some poor shots, frustration and a bit of drama involving her coach.
After dropping only four games during her win over Jasmine Paolini in their opening match of Group Steffi Graf, Sabalenka had to go the distance against Pegula – who beat her in their most recent encounter at the Wuhan Open.
The top seed was at her brilliant best in the opening, but the American then dominated the second set as she broke twice to take it to a decider and she got an early break, much to Sabalenka’s frustration.
The four-time Grand Slam winner lost her cool and had words with her coach Anton Dubrov, who got up and decided to leave.
But it didn’t do her any harm as she broke twice as she won four games in a row before serving out the 6–4, 2–6, 6–3 victory.
During a post-match interview with the Tennis Channel, Sabalenka admitted that she felt she had to step up in the third set, saying: “I really enjoy playing against her, she always pushes me to the next level and I felt today was an exchange of unreal tennis from both.
“In the first set, I don’t know what I did there, some of the points were just ‘wow’ and then in the second set she just turned in around and she was able to play the tennis.
“In the third set I was like ‘Okay, I have nothing else to do then just to step in and try to play more aggressively and put that pressure back on her and hope for the best’.”
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As for her altercation with her mentor, Sabalenka explained that she had to get rid of the “frustration” although the world No 1 acknowledges she overstepped the mark.
“Maybe I went a little bit too much on Anton. If he’s still here, we’re gonna talk but I don’t know where he is. But yeah, I went a bit too much,” the reigning US Open winner, who faces defending champion Coco Gauff in her final group match, said.
“I was so frustrated inside of me and I was just trying to let it go. Probably, I went too far. Not probably, I went too far.
“Honestly, I think it was the right move from him, probably, to just let me be on my own. And I don’t want to say the way I wanted to say but he really upset me and I was really, really stressed and angry with him. And that really helped me to pull out such tennis.”
