“At the beginning, I couldn’t do anything,” Sabalenka said. “I didn’t feel any strokes. It felt like, Whatever. I kind of like accepted I already lost this match.
“I was like, ‘Okay, whatever. If she’s going to give me chances, I’ll try my best. If not, whatever, I’ll fly back home, enjoy a little rest time and prepare for the Finals,’” she added with a laugh.
“At some point in the second set when she was keep breaking me, I was like, ‘Okay, I still have chances on her serve.’ I was just trying to put as much pressure on her as I can so she would go even crazier on her serve.”
A favorite with the Chinese crowd, Sabalenka conceded she is unlikely to get much support as she awaits one of Zheng Qinwen or Wang Xinyu in Sunday’s final.
