By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday January 10, 2022
Aryna Sabalenka was sabotaged by 21 double-faults as she fell to Sweden's Rebecca Peterson in three sets on Tuesday in Adelaide.
Photo Source: Getty
So far, so bad – that’s the story of World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka’s 2022 thus far. The Belarusian fell to 0-2 on the season by falling to Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 5-7, 6-1, 7-5, and will head to the Australian Open without a win to her name this season.
Sabalenka, who was upset by World No. 100 Kaja Juvan last week, has tossed in 39 doubles faults in her two matches this season.
On Tuesday against Peterson she pitched in 21 and resorted to serving underhand at different junctures of the match.
Sabalenka only won 13 of 45 second serve points on Tuesday and she was broken nine times by Peterson, a 26-year-old qualifier who is currently ranked 93. Sabalenka had not lost consecutive matches to players ranked outside of the Top-90 since June of 2017.
After taking the first set Sabalenka fell behind by 5-0 in the second set before breaking for 1-5 to avoid the bagel.
Sabalenka held a 3-1 lead in the final set but it didn’t last. She was broken for 3-3 and lost five of the final seven games – Peterson broke to claim her victory in the 12th game of the final set.