Aryna Sabalenka has slammed Berlin Tennis Open officials’ decision to suspend her match at the request of her opponent, saying Rebeka Masarova wanted the encounter called off for the day as she was “losing the match”.
Playing in her first clash since losing the French Open final in three sets against Coco Gauff just over a week ago, Sabalenka took on qualifier Masarova in the second round of the WTA 500 tournament.
And the top seed was quick out of the blocks as she broke twice to claim the opening set 6-2, but both players slipped on the showpiece Steffi Graf Stadion court.
At the end of the set, Masarova indicated that the court had become too slippery to continue the match.
The chair umpire and tournament officials agreed with the Swiss – who came through qualifying before beating former Australian Open winner and fellow qualifier Sofia Kenin in the first round – as they also deemed it would be too dangerous to play with the sun starting to set.
But Sabalenka was furious with the decision.
After being informed that the match would be suspended, the Belarusian asked: “So you’re stopping the match because she said on that side it’s slippery?
“I just played two games on that side.
“She’s just losing the match.”
The official replied: “You know we’re not going to finish. What’s the point?”
The match will now resume on Thursday and will be the second encounter of the day at the Steffi Graf Stadion with the winner taking on either Elena Rybakina or Katerina Siniakova in the quarter-final.