Aryna Sabalenka, Number 1 of the world and brand new champion of Madrid, razed this Thursday at its premiere at the WTA 1,000 of Rome to the Russian Anastasia Potapova (No. 34), which he eliminated in the second round in two sets, for a double 6-2.Without surprises in his first duel, The Belarusian closed the victory with forcefulness in just 1 hour and 5 minutes To begin the great challenge of ending the reign of the Polish IGA Swiatek (No. 2), in Rome, champion of 3 of the last 4 editions of the Italian beaten earth.Two ‘breaks’ on each setalways at the end of each of them, bending the initial resistance of the 24 -year -old Russian young, it was enough to reach the third round, in which the American Sofia Kenin (No. 31) will be measured.
And after being released in Rome, Aryna sat down with Tennis Channel And he gave his first complaint in the tournament: “I have had to adapt my game, they are completely different conditions here in Rome. I am very happy to have been able to get this victory. It is much slower here, the ball boat flies very high in Madrid, here everything goes down. Everything is much slower, you have to work really hard in each exchange. I would say that it is physically harder here. You have to work hard to get each point. “
He has also referred to his form of form, where he highlights rest as the key to everything: “Every day I get up and look at how many hours I slept, Stress metrics. I like to know when I am low stress to learn to better handle energy. It serves me a lot to me and my team. We do not adapt our training in that data, but this week, for example, the schedules have changed me because I needed some more rest. “
And in this sense he has confessed the days he needs to recover after each appointment: “At the beginning of the tournaments, my numbers are low and well, and then, facing the end of the tournaments, for some reason, my numbers shoot and keep going well. The day the tournament ends, my numbers are red, I need about two days to recover and be prepared again. “
His next rival will arrive more rested
Sofia Kenin will be Sabalenka’s following fire test in Rome, who He got rid of the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova In just over an hour, with an even more bulky result than Aryna’s, with a final 6-3 and 6-0 that earned him the classification with hardly any wear.