Aryna Sabalenka is back in a WTA 1000 final, but she's quite surprised that she made it back there because she dealt with physical problems between Madrid and Rome.
The Belarusian stood in the Madrid Open final not too long ago. It wasn't the desired outcome there as she was beaten in the final by Iga Swiatek, but she's back to a final again at the Italian Open in Rome.
She didn't expect this outcome because she had been dealing with a couple of issues leading up to this event. She had an illness and then an injury, which she admitted after beating Danielle Collins in the semi-final.
Getting to this stage of the event was unexpected for her, but she'll obviously take it, especially after she started feeling beter.
"After Madrid, I didn't feel great. I had illness, then I got injured. I kind of surprised that I even was so much stuff going on I was able to made it to the final. Kind of like surprised. At the same time I knew that the level is there. If I start feeling better, I can go to the finals. So it's like 50/50, you know?"
Facing Swiatek in another final will be an interesting experience for the world no. 2, because the last time they faced each other, Sabalenka had a tough time.
She worked her way to match points but failed to convert three of them, and it was really painful for her. She hopes that things end up going differently in Rome.
"But, I mean, that match definitely hurt me. It was really tough loss, especially after having some match points, even though she played great tennis. Yeah, was tight match. Hopefully here in Rome I can get the win and get the title."
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