Aryna Sabalenka is having a fantastic season. Now ranked no.2, the Belarussian has won 2 tournaments in 2021 after conquering Abu Dhabi and Madrid.
Aryna used to have a complicated relationship with his previous coach Dmitry Tursunov and eventually, they terminated their collaboration last year in August 2020. After trying other coaches, Aryna decided to have her sparring partner Anton Dubrov (only 26) as her coach, and things are working pretty well.
Coach Anton Dubrov
During the press conference that followed her successful quarterfinal against Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna explained why she is so happy about having Anton Dubrov as her coach.
“He was my sparring partner before. I worked with Tursunov. For me, it’s really tough to start working with someone else, with a new person. I’m like I need someone whom I can trust, with whom I can be honest, open all my thinking and all my problems.
He was my sparring partner. He’s a really smart guy. I knew that. I saw that he knew tennis quite well, he knows what he’s doing.
I stopped working with Tursunov. I tried for few weeks working with someone else. As I said, really tough for me to kind of bring the new person in my life, to be honest, to trust someone. It was just for few weeks.
Then I just asked Anton to be my coach. He was the ex-hitting partner. I asked him about coaching. Of course, he was open to it. He was ready. I’m really happy that I made this decision because I feel like it was right.”
Sabalenka at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Now ranked no.2 (career-high), Sabalenka has a 43-14 record in 2021. Sabalenka is now competing at the U.S. Open where she managed to beat Nina Stojanovic 6-4 6-74 6-0, Tamara Zidansek 6-3 6-1, Danielle Rose Collins 6-3 6-3, Elise Mertens 6-4 6-1 and Barbora Krejcikova 6-1 6-4.
Aryna Sabalenka will come up against the world no.73 Leylah Annie Fernandez in the semifinal. In the past, they have never played each other up to now in top tournaments.
The Belarussian has won 2 titles in 2021 in Abu Dhabi and in Madrid. Aryna was the runner-up in Stuttgart (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix).
Sabalenka won 10 titles in her career: 7 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Fernandez at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Now ranked no.73, Fernandez has achieved a compiled 22-15 match record in 2021. Leylah Annie is now competing at the U.S. Open where she conquered Ana Konjuh 7-63 6-2, Kaia Kanepi 7-5 7-5, Naomi Osaka 5-7 7-62 6-4, Angelique Kerber 4-6 7-65 6-2 and Elina Svitolina 6-3 3-6 7-65.
Leylah Annie Fernandez will compete against the world no.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal. They have never played each other till now in top events.
The Canadian conquered 1 title in 2021 in Monterrey.
Aryna Sabalenka and Leylah Annie Fernandez have never faced off.
