Aryna Sabalenka fumed over the decision to suspend her Berlin Open match against Rebeka Masarova. Leading 6-2 ahead of the second set last night, the Belarusian was informed by the umpire that the match would be halted due to a slippery surface.
Masarova is understood to have complained about the grass court. Completely bemused by the suggestion, Sabalenka seemed to accuse her opponent of underhand tactics, implying the Swiss player was only raising the issue because she was “losing the match”. The world No. 1 argued that he had not experienced any problems with Masarova’s side of the court during the last two games and hit out at the umpire when he suspended the match.
Sabalenka raged: “So you’re stopping the match because she said on that side it’s slippery? I just played two games on that side. She’s just losing the match.”
The umpire responded: “You know we’re not going to finish. What’s the point?”
Sabalenka had been in excellent form during her first match since losing the French Open final against Coco Gauff. The 27-year-old stormed into a 6-2 lead before the match was halted.
Play will resume today with Sabalenka scheduled to play second inside the Steffi Graf Stadion. The winner of her match against Masarova will face either Elena Rybakina or Katerina Siniakova in the quarter-final.
It comes just days after Sabalenka issued an apology and slammed her own comments made after the French Open final as ‘unprofessional’. Following her defeat against Gauff, the world No. 1 said that she felt the 21-year-old only won because of her own errors.
“That was just completely unprofessional of me,” Sabalenka told Eurosport Germany. “I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. But what I also want to say is that I wrote to Coco afterwards – not immediately, but recently.”
Gauff admitted to being confused after Sabalenka made no reference to the American in her on-court interview and moaned: “I think she won the match not because she played incredible. Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls.”