Aryna Sabalenka citicized for rushing ball girl in thrilling win over Coco Gauff

Aryna Sabalenka receives criticism on social media after rushing a ball girl during her match against Coco Gauff. The Belarusian secured her place in the final of the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open after defeating Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and will face Zheng Qinwen in the title match.

During the third set, tensions were high as the 3-time Grand Slam champion took a 4-2 lead thanks to an early break. Serving at 30-15, Sabalenka was preparing to serve, but the ball girl wasn’t fast enough to get the balls to the World No. 2, prompting Sabalenka to gesture in frustration, urging the girl to hurry up.

Sabalenka criticized for rushing ball girl

The scene provoked some boos from the local spectators, but everything quickly passed after a few seconds. In the next service point, Sabalenka smiled at the confused ball girl. Despite the incident, Sabalenka lost that game, allowing Gauff to push the set to 4-4. However, the former World No. 1 broke back later and closed the final set 6-4.

Sabalenka’s next challenge will be against China’s Zheng Qinwen, who has already defeated opponents like Leylah Fernandez and Jasmine Paolini and is preparing for her fourth encounter with Sabalenka. All previous matches were in Grand Slam tournaments, including the Australian Open final earlier this year. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 3-0.

In the post-match press conference after her win over Gauff, Sabalenka was asked about the crowd support she had received throughout the tournament and how she expects it to be against local hero Zheng, the gold medalist at the recent Olympic Games.

“I know, obviously, they’re going to support her more than me. But I know that I still have some people here who support me. This tournament feels like playing at home. Being in the finals for the third time, hopefully, I’ll get this beautiful trophy tomorrow,” Aryna Sabalenka said.

“But no expectations on support from the crowd. I have my team. I have my family. I have a lot of people who support me around the world. I’ll just focus on that,” she added.

Very rude behaviour from Sabalenka towards the ball kids. She got booed for it and deservedly so Waiting to see if the tennis media will pick it up or not They’d do it if it was Qinwen

this is the next service point, there’s literally no malice, and everyone was laughing about it even the crowd. the little girl obviously confused & not moving quickly w/ the balls (it happened with coco) and aryna was frustrated ended up losing this game. it was just nerves!!

Very rude behaviour from Sabalenka towards the ball kids. She got booed for it and deservedly so Waiting to see if the tennis media will pick it up or not They’d do it if it was Qinwen pic.x.com/kGfieQ41zY

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