Victoria Azarenka refused to be negative or pessimistic following her Australian Open semifinal defeat to Aryna Sabalenka as she described it as “just a day that my game didn’t win.”
Azarenka, 33, was just one win away from reaching her first Australian Open final since 2013 before Rybakina handed her a 7-6 (4) 6-3 defeat.
“Time always is a good medicine I feel. I don’t really dwell too long on things. I feel like I’m in the state of mind where I can be a little bit more objective. I think what helps me now is not to take it, I did something bad or I’m this or that. I don’t take it as personal. It’s just a day that my game didn’t win,” Azarenka said, per the Australian Open website.
Azarenka after the Rybakina defeat: I didn’t convert my chances
“Right now, especially, it’s kind of hard to digest. Obviously I had quite a few chances that I gave myself. Kind of not converting them right now is difficult. [I] cannot really say I’m really proud of how I played. I’m proud of myself how I fought and I tried, but just was not, tennis-wise, I felt like just wasn’t there, especially in the important moments when I kept creating those opportunities for me. Just couldn’t convert them,” Azarenka reflected.
Azarenka earned the first break of the match in the fifth game but then lost her service games in the sixth and eighth games as Rybakina took a 5-3 lead in the first set.
After losing three games in a row, Azarenka saved a set point in the ninth game and broke back Rybakina.
In the 11th game, Azarenka had three consecutive break points but didn’t realize and the first set eventually went into a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Rybakina opened a 5-2 lead before converting her second set point to win a tight opener.
After losing the first set, Azarenka’s game collapsed as Rybakina claimed breaks in the third and seventh games to open a 5-2 lead in the second set.
Rybakina didn’t manage to serve out for the match in the eighth game but broke Azarenka again in the ninth game, when the Belarusian was serving to stay in the match.
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