By Lidia Kelly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova said her Australian Open quarter-final loss to top seed Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday would not blot her solid start to the season and the Russian hoped to carry the momentum forward.
The 27th seed suffered a 6-2 2-6 6-3 defeat but took a set off the defending champion – the first one the Belarusian had dropped at Melbourne Park since the 2023 final against Elena Rybakina.
“I’ve had a great start to the season here, so I’ll try to take this momentum into the next months,” Pavlyuchenkova told reporters.
“I do feel that this year, this event in particular, I’ve played some really good tennis. Sometimes, I don’t know, you’re just a bit lucky here and there. You grind some matches out. But here I felt like I was playing really good tennis.”
The 33-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, French Open runner-up in 2021, said the conditions at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday had proved a challenge for both players.
“It took me a long time to get used to it,” Pavlyuchenkova told Reuters. “In the second set I found momentum and I got what I wanted. I started hitting a little better and found rhythm. In the next something went missing and it was windy.”
Despite the loss, there was also satisfaction, she said.
“I felt like I could compete with the world number one. Honestly, I just want to try to play my best tennis as much as I can in every event and just enjoy this year to the fullest,” she told reporters.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.