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Patna : Third seed Aryna Sabalenka, 23, Belarus, and 6th seed Iga Swiatek, 20, Poland, crashed out of Western & Southern Open, a WTA Masters event, at Cincinati, Ohio, USA, suffering shock defeat in 2nd round.
World No 31 Paula Badosa, 23, Spain, stunned 3rd seed Aryna Sabalenka, 23, Belarus, in a three-set thriller in 2nd round on August 19, 2021. Badosa beat Sabalenka 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 coming from behind to reach the Round of 16 of the event.
Badosa won 6 break points during the match to 5 by Sabalenka, The S;aniard also won the tiebreak. Badosa won 6 games in a row during the match to 3 by Sabalenka. The Spaniard, in all, won 111 points to 99 by the Belarusian. Sabalenka though fired 9 Aces in the match to 5 by Badosa, who will face World No 19 Elena Rybakina, 22, Kazakhstan, in Round of 16 on August 20, 2021.
World No 22 Ons Jabeur, 26, Tunisia, upset 6th seed Iga Swiatek in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in 2nd round winning 3 break points during the match. Jabeur hammered 10 Aces in the match to just 1 by 2020 French Open champion Swiatek.Both the players committed 3 double faults each during the match. Jabeur also won 3 games in a row during the match. The Tunisian, in all, won 67 points during the match to 51 points by Swiatek. Jabeau will face 11th seed PetraKvitova, 31, Czech Republic, n Round of 16 on August 20, 2021.
Fifth seed Karolina Pliskova, 29, Czech Republic, beat World No 36 Yulia Putintseva, 26, Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2 in 2nd round winning 3 break points to advance to Round of 16. Pliskova fired 5 Aces in the match to 4 by Putintseva. Karolina, however, also committed 5 double faults during the match to 2 by Putintseva. Karolina will face World No 30 Jessica Pegula, 27, USA, n Round of 16.
Top seed Ashleigh Barty, 25, Australia, and 2nd seed Naomi, OSaka, 23, Japan, reached Round of 16 on August 18, 2021.