All three times, Sabalenka was the clear favorite. All three times she let the moment overtake her. When adversity suddenly struck in those matches, she panicked and couldn’t get herself back under control in time. Her demeanor seemed to say: “I’m No. 1, I’m the bigger hitter and better player, and I’ve made myself a calmer competitor: How can this still be happening?”
And there were a few moments like that against Gauff in Madrid.
In the first set, after winning 15 straight points and breaking Gauff at love for 4-1, Sabalenka couldn’t keep the pressure on, and nearly let the American level at 4-4. In the second set, she fell behind an early break, and with Gauff serving at 5-4, Sabalenka had to save a set point before breaking back. Then, in the second-set tiebreaker, she let Gauff come back from 0-3 to 3-3.
But each time, instead of panicking, Sabalenka settled down and found a way to stop the negative momentum. Sometimes a Gauff error helped. Other times Sabalenka took the attack to her with one of her ground strokes. In the end, her serve got her over the finish line. After losing three straight points in the tiebreaker, she turned around and fired two unreturnable serves that brought her to match point.
