Tag: Aryna Sabalenka

World number one Aryna Sabalenka said it would be “cool” to see Serena Williams return to tennis after the American great refused to rule it out when asked, and instead replied: “I don’t know. I’m just going to see what happens.”

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, a 44-year-old mother-of-two, has not competed since a third-round loss at the 2022 US Open.

But she re-entered the tennis anti-doping testing pool in December, setting off the rumour mill, only to deny that she was making a comeback.

She was questioned about the prospect again on television show “Today” on Wednesday and while not confirming any plans, would also not rule it out.

“I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now,” Williams said.

Pressed on whether that was a yes or no, she replied: “That’s not a yes or a no. I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens.”

Asked why she had re-entered the drug-testing programme, Williams said: “Did I re-enter? I didn’t know if I was out. Listen, I can’t discuss this.”

Williams’ sister Venus played at the ongoing Australian Open in Melbourne aged 45 after being handed a wildcard and was knocked out in the first round.

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Venus also competed at tournaments in Auckland and Hobart after returning to tennis in July after almost two years away.

Asked about the prospect of Serena returning, Australian Open finalist Sabalenka said she had not spoken to anyone about it.

 “I heard that she’s enjoying her life, and whatever makes her happy, I’m happy for her,” she said.

The Belarusian, who is into a fourth straight Melbourne final, added: “If she wants to come back, that’s her decision. It’s going to be fun to see her back on tour.

 “She’s got the personality, and she’s a fun one. It will be cool.”

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, beaten by Sabalenka in their Melbourne semi-final, said it was the first she had heard about it, but said it would be “amazing for the sport”.

 “She’s such a great champion and achieved so much, did so much for our sport and been an inspiration for women around the world,” she added.

During the Australian Open, former world number one Jim Courier, now a commentator, noted how onerous it was for athletes to be on the anti-doping testing pool.

Once they are, they need to provide information about where and when they are available to give samples.

They need to complete testing for six months before being allowed to return to competition.

 “No person that doesn’t have intentions to play professional tennis is going to put themselves in that list, especially someone who has as much experience doing it as Serena Williams,” Courier said.

 “Serena denied (in December) she’s coming back, but I think unless she gets injured there is no doubt she’s going to play somewhere at some point.

 “Whether that’s the mixed doubles at the US Open, whether that’s doubles with her sister somewhere, whether it’s singles, only she knows.

 “But there’s no other way to interpret that.”

The Williams sisters won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a pair and three Olympic gold medals.

Aryna Sabalenka swept to her fourth successive Australian Open final with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in a semi-final overshadowed by geopolitical tension and will play familiar rival Elena Rybakina next.

Rybakina set up a blockbuster rematch of the 2023 final at Melbourne Park by overcoming American Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-6(7), as the Russian-born Kazakh ramped up her own hunt for a second major title following her 2022 Wimbledon triumph.

Top-seeded Belarusian Sabalenka will seek her third title at the tournament in four years and fifth Grand Slam trophy overall after another dominant display at what is now firmly her favourite hunting ground.

“I just can’t believe that. It’s an incredible achievement but the job is not done yet,” world number one Sabalenka said. “I’m super happy with the win. She’s such a tough opponent and has been playing incredible tennis the whole week.”

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The defining moment for Sabalenka proved to be a hindrance call from the chair umpire mid-rally in the first set for a late non‑standard grunt, a decision that stood following a video review and left the player fuming.

“It was the wrong call, but whatever,” Sabalenka said. “She really — how do I say in a nice way — pissed me off, and it helped me and benefited my game.

“I was more aggressive. I was not happy with the call.”

Since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour Ukraine in 2022, for which Belarus has been a staging ground, players from Russia and Belarus have been banned from representing their nations at the Grand Slams and tour events.

Svitolina has been vocal about the strain of playing the countries’ players, and said that she hoped to bring her country “light” at the Australian Open amid a tough winter.

The 27-year-old Sabalenka, however, crushed those hopes in a furious display of raw power.

She became the third woman in the professional era to reach the Australian Open decider four times in a row following Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1971-76) and Martina Hingis (1997-2002), who each played six finals in a row.

“Gutted not to make it through tonight,” Svitolina told reporters. “Of course it’s very difficult when you’re playing a world number one on fire.”

While 31-year-old Svitolina was comprehensively defeated, she fought hard from the first ball to the last. The 12th seed started with tenacity, hitting a forehand winner down the line on the first point returning serve.

Sabalenka wobbled, giving up two break points with a loose backhand, but blasted her way out of danger.

There was tension at 2-1 when Svitolina was awarded a point mid-rally, with Sabalenka penalised for hindrance.

Incensed, she demanded a video review but the point stood. She channelled her frustration into breaking Svitolina, and then held for a 4-1 lead.

Pinning Svitolina well behind the baseline, Sabalenka grabbed three set points and converted the third, roaring “Let’s go!” after a sizzling cross-court backhand winner.

After 41 minutes of earth-shaking power, Sabalenka’s weapons finally misfired.

She dropped the opening service game of the second set with a clutch of errors, raising cheers from a crowd yearning for a contest.

But Sabalenka steadied herself, breaking Svitolina twice in succession. Svitolina never dropped her head and earned a break point when trailing 4-2 to put the match back on serve.

Sabalenka was not to be denied, though. After thrashing a forehand winner down the line to save the break point, she proved unstoppable.

Grabbing two match points with a huge serve, Sabalenka closed it out in style, swooping forward with a forehand cross-court winner to book her chance of claiming a third trophy at Melbourne Park.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Rybakina later made a blazing start on Rod Laver Arena as the 26-year-old dictated terms with her trademark heavy hitting to pile the pressure on American Pegula, who looked out of sorts under the lights.

Sixth-seeded Pegula settled her nerves and stayed in touch at 4-2 down after saving break points, but Rybakina dialled up the intensity again and took the opening set with a cross-court winner to put one foot in the final.

Having finished her 2025 campaign by toppling Sabalenka in the season-ending WTA Finals to lift the trophy, Rybakina looked in a hurry to book her 15th clash with the Belarusian as she broke Pegula for a 2-1 lead in the second set.

The clean forehand winner that put Rybakina ahead drew a frustrated response from Pegula, who composed herself to break back and later saved three match points to draw level at 5-5.

Rybakina responded immediately, assisted by the net cord, but a determined Pegula did not give in and forced a tiebreak where she squandered two set points before finally fading away.

“It was an epic second set. Jessica played so well, fought to the end and I’m happy to be in the final,” Rybakina said.

“It was really, really stressful. I had an epic tiebreak here (in 2024) … a little flashback came to me. I’m happy it turned my way and looking forward to playing on Saturday.”

World number one Aryna Sabalenka warmed up for a tilt at a third Australian open title in four years in ominous fashion by winning her second successive Brisbane International crown.

Sabalenka scored a dominant 6-4, 6-3 win over Marta Kostyuk in just 78 minutes.

 “Every day you go out there and prove your level, and I think this week I did it really well,” said Sabalenka after a tournament in which she powered to the title without dropping a set.

Looking ahead to the Australian Open, which begins next Sunday, Sabalenka said: “The only thing I know is that I’ll be there, I’ll be fighting.”

Salablenka lost in the Melbourne Park final last year to Madison Keys, having been Australian Open champion in 2023 and 2024.

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 “I’ll do my best to go as far as possible,” said Sabalenka. “And do a little bit better than last year. That’s my focus.”

Kostyuk, the world number 26, had enjoyed a spectacular week, beating three top 10 players on the way to the final.

But she had no answer to the power of Sabalenka and the Ukrainian’s serve, so reliable in the early rounds, also went off the boil.

Sabalenka was rarely troubled on her own delivery and faced only three break points.

The 27-year-old Belarusian said she had tried to introduce new elements to her game so she wasn’t relying just on power, and that had paid off this week.

“I finally found the touch game,” she said.

 “I figured something and I kind of changed my game style – now I’m not only the aggressive player, I can play at the net, I can be in defence, I can use my slice, I have a good touch.

 “I’m super happy to see that things are clicking together.”

There has been animosity between the two players in the past.

Like many Ukraine players, Kostyuk refuses to shake hands with Russians or Belarusians because of the war in her homeland.

There was no handshake at the end of the Brisbane final and in her speech at the trophy presentation, Kostyuk brought up the situation in Ukraine.

 “I play every day with a pain in my heart and there are thousands of people who are without light and warm water right now,” she said.

 “It’s minus 20 degrees outside and it’s very painful to live this reality every day.”

Sabalenka said she wasn’t concerned by Kostyuk’s attitude towards her.

 “It’s their position, what can I do?” she asked.

 “When I go out there, I think about my tennis and the things I have to do to get the win.

 “It doesn’t matter if it’s Marta Kostyuk or Jessica Pegula there. I have nothing to prove. I go there and I just compete as an athlete.”

Kostyuk told reporters she was determined to keep what is happening in Ukraine in the public eye.

 “I think it’s important for me to use my platform in the right way, and my platform is Ukraine, because I represent Ukraine,” she said.

 “So I think it’s really important to talk about that.”

Aryna Sabalenka said winning a first French Open title would “mean everything” after she knocked out three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

The world number one snapped Swiatek’s French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7⁄1), 4-6, 6-0 success and will face second seed Coco Gauff on Saturday for the title.

Sabalenka is targeting a fourth Grand Slam title and first not on hard courts, after winning last year’s US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.

“It’s going to mean everything to me and my team, because I have to say that almost like my whole life I’ve been told it (clay) is not my thing and then I didn’t have any confidence,” the Belarusian told reporters.

“In the past I don’t know how many years, we’ve been able to develop my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay.

 “If I’ll be able to get this trophy, it’s just going to mean the world for us.”

Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight breaks of serve in a tie-break, before Swiatek hit back to level the match.

The finale turned out to be a complete anti-climax, as Swiatek made 12 unforced errors in the third set and won only six points.

“The way the third set went, it was actually shocking for me, to be honest,” admitted Sabalenka.

Swiatek has still not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.

She showed signs of a revival on the Paris clay where she has dominated since lifting the title as a teenager in 2020, but her game deserted her in the deciding set as she fell to only the third French Open defeat of her career.

“I feel like I played better than weeks before,” said Swiatek. “I’m just happy that I have this place to come back to every year and just try to push myself.”

Sabalenka has now won their last two meetings, and five of 13 in total.

This was the first time the pair, the dominant players in women’s tennis of the past few years, have gone head-to-head at a Grand Slam tournament since Swiatek’s win in the 2022 US Open semi-finals en route to the title.

Sabalenka will be the favourite to win the trophy when she takes on Gauff, who she lost to in the 2023 US Open final.

“It felt like a final (against Swiatek), but I know that the job is not done yet, and I have to go out there on Saturday, and I have to fight and I have to bring my best tennis,” added the 27-year-old Sabalenka.

“I have to work for that title, especially if it’s going to be Coco.

“I’m ready. I’m ready to go out, and I’m ready to fight. And I’m ready to do everything it’s going to take to get the win.”

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American Gauff was too strong for 361st-ranked French hero Lois Boisson, easing to a 6-1, 6-2 win in the second semi-final.

Sabalenka roared out of the blocks, building a 4-1 lead with a double-break, only for Swiatek to battle back and edge in front on serve.

Sabalenka did manage to create a chance to serve out the set, but Swiatek broke again to force a tie-break as the Belarusian lashed a groundstroke long.

The three-time Grand Slam champion finally got the first set on the board, though, blasting through the breaker as Swiatek eventually cracked.

The pair belatedly stabilised behind their serves after more early breaks in the second, albeit too late for Sabalenka in the set as Swiatek held to love to force a decider.

The four-time champion had never lost a three-set match at the French Open, but she wilted under the pressure in a disappointing final set that lasted just 22 minutes.

Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek’s French Open reign with a devastating third-set performance to tee up a Roland Garros final against Coco Gauff after the American knocked out French hero Lois Boisson.

The Belarusian snapped Swiatek’s French Open winning streak at 26 matches with a 7-6 (7⁄1), 4-6, 6-0 success to reach her first final in the clay-court Grand Slam.

 “Iga is the toughest opponent, especially on the clay and at Roland Garros,” said Sabalenka after becoming the first player to defeat Swiatek in a deciding set at the French Open on Thursday. “I’m proud that I was able to get this win.”

World number two Gauff ended the dream run of 361st-ranked wildcard Boisson with a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the second semi-final on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Gauff and Sabalenka are level at 5-5 in their head-to-head record and have won one each of their two meetings at major tournaments.

Sabalenka edged a topsy-turvy first set that featured eight breaks of serve in a tie-break, before Swiatek hit back to level the match.

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The finale turned out to be a complete anti-climax, as Swiatek made 12 unforced errors in the third set and won only six points.

 “I’m glad that I found my serve. It was a bit easier with the serve,” added the 27-year-old Sabalenka. “What can I say, 6-0 – it couldn’t be much more perfect than that!”

Sabalenka is targeting a fourth Grand Slam title and first not on hard courts, after winning last year’s US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.

Swiatek has still not reached a WTA final since lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen 12 months ago.

She showed signs of a revival on the Paris clay where she has dominated since winning as a teenager in 2020, but her game deserted her in the deciding set as she slipped to only the third French Open defeat of her career.

 “I love playing here, so for sure I’m happy that I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here,” Swiatek said.

Sabalenka has now won their last two meetings, and five of 13 in total.

This was the first time the pair, the dominant players in women’s tennis of the past few years, have gone head-to-head at a Grand Slam tournament since Swiatek’s win in the 2022 US Open semi-finals en route to the title.

Sabalenka will be the favourite to lift the trophy when she takes on Gauff, to whom she lost in the 2023 US Open final.

Swiatek, who was bidding to become the first woman to win four successive French Opens in over a century, will drop to seventh in the world rankings next week.

The French Open women’s singles semi-finals take centre stage at Roland Garros today , when world number one Aryna Sabalenka meets four-times champion Iga Swiatek in a match worthy of a title clash.

In the other last-four encounter, wildcard Lois Boisson will look to continue her inspired run on home soil when she plays 2022 runner-up Coco Gauff.

Belarusian Sabalenka has been the poster girl for Grand Slam consistency in the last few years, storming into the semi-finals in nine of the last 10 majors she has competed in to emerge as a genuine threat to Swiatek’s supremacy on Parisian clay.

The 27-year-old top seed’s growing composure and mental fortitude on the biggest stage means that the wobbles she once experienced have become distant memories, while her retooled serve and power can blow away opponents on any surface.

She has harnessed all those qualities during her run to the last four without conceding a set, dismantling Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6(3) 6-3 in the last round.

Swiatek, who is on a 26-match winning run at the French Open, represents the biggest test in Sabalenka’s bid to win a maiden Roland Garros title and add more silverware to her trophy cabinet that contains U.S. and Australian Open crowns.

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Having locked down the top ranking since April 2022, the duo renew their rivalry having become a little closer after making a TikTok video at last year’s season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh and practising together thereafter.

“Before, there wasn’t any communication or any practice with her, but now we’re getting better. We get along and we practise more often. We know each other well,” Sabalenka said.

“We’ve had a lot of great battles in the past … I’m super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win.”

Fifth seed Swiatek leads the overall head-to-head record with Sabalenka at 8-4 but the gulf in class on clay is a little more evident at 5-1 in favour of the 24-year-old.

Having moved on from a distracting doping case for which she served a month-long ban last year, Swiatek has had to fight hard at her favourite hunting ground this year to beat Elena Rybakina in three sets before overcoming Elina Svitolina last time out.

Swiatek may need to call upon that battling mentality again when she faces a hungry Sabalenka, whose only clay court victory over the reigning Paris champion came in the 2023 Madrid final.

“I know what I’m fighting about and I know that my game is somewhere there even when the moment is tough. At Roland Garros I should always push until the end and fight for everything … I maybe believe it a bit more,” Swiatek said.

“I don’t know if she elevates my game. Against every player, we play a different way so it’s hard to compare. But our rivalry is pushing both of us.”

American second seed Coco Gauff will be up against not just a plucky Boisson but the partisan French crowd as well when the 2022 runner-up takes on the wildcard in the other semi-final, hoping to take a step towards a second major title.

“I’ve been in crowds where they’re 99% for me, so I don’t have an issue with it. I hope everyone will be respectful and things. If not, it’s cool,” Gauff said before the 361st-ranked Boisson stunned sixth seed Mirra Andreeva.

“It makes sports exciting and I can’t get irritated at the fact that someone’s rooting for their hometown hero, because I would do the same. It’s something I’ll mentally prepare for if it were to happen and expect and be ready for.”

FRENCH OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON THURSDAY

*Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) vs. Iga Swiatek (Poland)

*Lois Boisson (France) vs. Coco Gauff (United States)

World number one Aryna Sabalenka says she has put her Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys behind her as she shifts her focus to the ongoing Middle East swing.

Sabalenka was gunning for a third consecutive title in Melbourne last month but stumbled at the last hurdle with a three-set loss to the American.

 “This one was the toughest one. I think for a week I was still thinking about that match,” the Belarusian told reporters in Doha.

 “Honestly, looking back and thinking about those two lost games (in the final set), I didn’t do anything wrong, she just played out of her mind, and it was her day, there’s nothing to regret. I think right now I’m fully recovered after that tough match.”

Sabalenka is back competing at the Qatar Open which started yesterday for the first time since 2022. The tournament in Doha is the first WTA 1000 event of the season.

After Qatar the tour’s top players move on to the WTA 1000 in Dubai.

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A champion in Doha in 2020, Sabalenka says she’ll be treating these back-to-back tournaments in the Gulf as a warm-up for next month ‘Sunshine Doubles’, which consists of 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami in the United States.

 “The schedule is actually pretty tough, especially if you make it to the last stage of the Australian Open, then you don’t have much time to recover and prepare yourself for these big events,” explained the three-time major champion.

 “I believe I’ll just take these two tournaments as a preparation for the Sunshine one and I’ll try to build my tennis, and probably take my tennis to the next level in these two events.”

The Middle East swing kicked off in Abu Dhabi last week, where Belinda Bencic clinched her first title less than 10 months after the birth of her daughter Bella.

 “That’s impressive, honestly. She just came back, I think Australian Open she had a great run (to the fourth round0, and now she’s holding the trophy. It’s amazing, I’m super happy for her, she definitely deserved that,” said Sabalenka of Bencic’s triumph in the UAE capital.

 “As she said, she worked really hard for that, and it’s good to see. It gives us hope that probably, whenever we’re all going to go for babies, we have a chance to come back if we want to,” added the top seed with a laugh.

Sabalenka has a bye in the opening round in Doha and will begin her campaign against British wildcard Emma Raducanu or Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Iga Swiatek has won the last three editions of the tournament, and enters this year’s edition on a 12-match winning streak on Qatari soil.

The Polish world number two credits her patience and adaptability for her previous success in Doha.

 “I think the conditions here are pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game and playing my tennis,” said the 23-year-old.

Swiatek is searching for her first title in eight months, with her last triumph coming in last year’s French Open.

 “I know how tennis works. It doesn’t always depend on you if you win titles or not. You just have to put 100 percent effort and commitment and you’ll get your chances if you play well and if you work hard,” she said.

Should she defend her crown in Doha, Swiatek would become just the second woman this century to win the same title four years in a row, and first since Caroline Wozniacki won New Haven from 2008 to 2011.

The second-seeded Swiatek will open her Doha account against Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse or former top-five player Maria Sakkari in round two.

Aryna Sabalenka will not let her friendship with Paula Badosa affect her quest to win a third successive Australian Open title when the best friends clash in the semi-finals, the defending champion said.

Badosa upset American third seed Coco Gauff to make her first Grand Slam semi-final, while Sabalenka downed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to stay on course to be the first woman to complete a “three-peat” since Martina Hingis from 1997-99.

Sabalenka, who has a 5-2 record against Badosa, was pleased with her friend’s progress in the tournament but said the Spaniard should not expect any easy treatment when they meet at Melbourne Park.

“We decided a long time ago that off the court we are friends, while on the court she really wants to win, I really want to win,” Sabalenka told Reuters after her 6-2 2-6 6-3 win over Russian 27th seed Pavlyuchenkova.

“So on the court we are competitors and there is no place for friendship.”

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While she would not speculate on her chances of joining an elite group of players who have won three Australian Open titles in a row, including Margaret Court (1969-71), Evonne Goolagong (1974–76), Steffi Graf (1988–90), Monica Seles (1991–93) and Hingis, the Belarusian said it was not beyond her reach.

“I’m really happy that I put myself in this situation where I have the opportunity to become one of them,” she told reporters.

“To be next to those names, wow, that’s just a dream. Of course, it has always been in the back of my mind that I can do that. But you know, my main focus is … step by step.

“I know that if I will be able to bring my best tennis on each game, if not the best tennis, then the best fighting spirit, I know that I’m capable of doing that.”

Aryna Sabalenka powered past Sloane Stephens to begin her quest for a third consecutive Australian Open crown with Alexander Zverev and Zheng Qinwen also winning as storms caused havoc on day one of the Grand Slam.

Belarusian top seed Sabalenka had a first-set wobble but was otherwise in control against 2017 US Open champion Stephens, romping home 6-3, 6-2 in 71 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Sabalenka is aiming to become the first woman since Martina Hingis (1997-99) to win three consecutive titles at Melbourne Park.

If she lifts the winner’s Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup again, she will join a select group of Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Hingis as the only women to complete a three-peat.

 “Always tough matches against her,” said Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International in the lead-up. “I didn’t play my best, probably, but I’m glad I was able to close the match in two sets.”

Men’s second seed Zverev was clinical in his match against French wildcard Lucas Pouille, who made the last four in 2019 before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

The German, who is on the same side of the draw as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, cruised home 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 as he bids to better the semi-final he made in 2024.

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Olympic champion Zheng, the fifth seed and last year’s losing finalist, had the honour of playing the first point on centre court against Romania’s 110th -ranked Anca Todoni.

She came through 7-6 (7⁄3), 6-1 but was rusty after opting not to play a warm-up event.

Zheng had three set points on her own serve at 5-3 in the first set, but allowed Todoni to come roaring back before closing her down in the tiebreak then racing through the second set.

 “The first match is always not easy,” she said. “Just happy to get through the match, the tiebreak and find my rhythm.”

The 22-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough 2024 with her Australian Open exploits helping spur her to Olympic gold — beating Iga Swiatek on the way – and three WTA titles.

While Zheng was able to play, the action on outside courts at Melbourne Park was halted barely an hour after it started when storms rolled in that turned the sky black.

Thunder and lightning saw players and fans rushing for cover, with the heavy rain a headache for organisers who face a match backlog.

lay finally resumed after a six-and-a-half hour delay.

Only the three main stadiums – Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena – have roofs.

Norway’s Ruud said ahead of the event that playing better at Grand Slams was on his agenda this year after an underwhelming 2024 at the majors.

But the sixth seed will need to lift his game to go deep in Melbourne after a rollercoaster 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 win over Spain’s Jaume Munar, ranked 106.

Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori also came through a five-set marathon, saving two match points to beat Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 6-7 (4⁄7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in 4hr 6min.

 “I almost gave up at match point,” said the 35-year-old, who is on the comeback trail after spending years sidelined by major hip surgery and an ankle injury.

 “But I somehow fought through.”

Mirra Andreeva was the first player into the second round, with the 14th  seeded Russian easing past the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-3.

The Australian Open was delayed by rain on day one

The 17-year-old made the fourth round in Melbourne last year and is looking to better that performance.

 “Honestly it was a bit hard for me when they started closing the roof (mid-match),” said Andreeva, who is coached by former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.

 “I’m very happy today that I played in a stadium with a roof.”

Women’s 11th  seed Paula Badosa, 18th  seed Donna Vekic and 2021 US Open champion Leylah Fernandez also progressed.

Among the men, French 14th  seed Ugo Humbert ground past Italy’s Matteo Gigante to set up a clash with Hady Habib, who became the first Lebanese player ever to win a Grand Slam match when he toppled China’s Bu Yunchaokete in straight sets.

Tenacious tiger-tattooed Aryna Sabalenka embodied the spirit of her favourite animal in New York this year as she clawed her way back from injury and disappointment to hoist the U.S. Open trophy at last.

The world number two retained her title at the Australian Open but suffered a back injury in Rome and crashed out with illness in the Roland Garros quarter-final. She missed Wimbledon entirely due to a shoulder injury.

Her signature tiger arm tattoo became a fitting emblem then as she roared back on to the tour to win last month’s Cincinnati tune-up event and swiped aside competitors in Flushing Meadows.

She dropped only one set on the road to the final and downed American Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 after finishing runner-up a year ago. She had two previous semi-final appearances, as well.

“I faced a lot of challenges on and off the court,” the Belarusian said. “That’s why it’s very special, because no matter what, every time I was coming back stronger and I was learning. I never gave up on this dream, and yeah, you know, it means a lot.”

Her tiger tattoo has become a must-have for her devotees – at least temporary ink – as a young super-fan charmed crowds in the second round with a wash-off tiger tattoo and matching kit.

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For Saturday’s championship match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, her performance coach Jason Stacy arrived with the tiger tattoo on his head, which she slapped with satisfaction after winning the title.

“In Washington there is one girl, she’s my fan, she’s supporting me and she always come up with some cool stuff related to my name,” said Sabalenka.

“She brought these temporary tattoos, and Jason promised me that if I make it to the finals… he’s gonna put it on his forehead.”

The pair have come up with other superstitions around Stacy’s bald head, as she began signing it with a marker – a strange pre-match ritual before her successful Australian Open defence.

“Just always come up with something new,” she said. “It was signature, and now it’s, like, tiger tattoo. I’m really curious what’s going to be next.”