Sabalenka survives – Aryna Sabalenka battled past Nikola Bartunkova in Berlin, overturning a rough start and sparing key set points before finishing the job with a forehand winner. The win came with a familiar worry: she was icing her right shoulder after the match—an injury that
In Berlin, Aryna Sabalenka stared down the kind of early deficit that can tilt a match for good—and then did something that felt more like damage control than a turnaround.
Facing Nikola Bartunkova, a player who has been building momentum all year, Sabalenka quickly found herself 5-1 down. Bartunkova’s flat strokes and booming return of serve made the opening brutal. Sabalenka had the momentum disappear from her game in a hurry. losing four games in a row before anything finally shifted.
With the opener slipping away, Sabalenka saved four set points on her own serve. She also managed two break-back points as Bartunkova tried to close the set. But Bartunkova refused to wilt. The 20-year-old fired two huge first serves beyond Sabalenka. and when the pressure finally swung her way. Bartunkova let out a huge scream of celebration as she took the lead.
Then Bartunkova pushed on. Her positive play carried her through the first four games of the second set.
By that point, Sabalenka’s serve—usually a weapon—had barely been a factor. One moment summed up the frustration: a serve clipped the frame of her racquet and sailed out of court. Still, she kept finding ways back into the match. She held to love to get on the board. saved another break point. and won the next five games to get in front for the first time.
The second set went to a tie-break, and Sabalenka’s ability to wrestle control returned just in time.
The final set turned sharper. Twice Sabalenka was wrestled back from a break up, unable to simply coast to the finish. But then the match swung again through her forehand—when a forehand winner set her up to serve for the match at 5-4.
Sabalenka took the lead again, but it didn’t arrive neatly. Two match points came and went before a trademark forehand cross-court sealed the win for the top seed.
The victory will satisfy Sabalenka, but the end of the match carried a quieter sting. At the changeovers, she was icing her right shoulder. That’s the same shoulder issue that ruled her out of Wimbledon two years ago.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, Elena Rybakina’s day took a different turn. The world number two and 2022 Wimbledon champion withdrew from the Bad Homburg Open with a hip issue.
Aryna Sabalenka Nikola Bartunkova Berlin Open Wimbledon right shoulder injury Elena Rybakina Bad Homburg Open hip issue