“Probably she’s not going to invite me for her really great dinners,” sighed Sabalenka, who rallied from a set down to surprise Putintseva, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0. “She’s really good in cooking, she’s making delicious food. Probably I’ll never try her stuff again.
“Or she’ll invite me and she’ll poison my meal,” she added with a laugh. “We’ll see. I hope no.”
Sabalenka and Putintseva have remained close over the years, Sabalenka nabbing an exclusive invite to Putintseva’s pre-Australian Open birthday party last January.
“It’s tough to play,” said Sabalenka, who won the final nine games against Putintseva to win a 13th straight match in Wuhan. “Especially we both are really emotional people. We were really going up and down, up and down with our emotions today. But I think we’re still friends, which is good.”
