Camila Giorgi had all the ingredients to win over her third round opponent, Aryna Sabalenka, despite not being aware that it helped her with the victory. The brand new stadium at Roland Garros, Court Simonne Mathiew is beautiful and Giorgi felt that it created a wonderful atmosphere for her to play in. The seventh ranked WTA opponent, Sabalenka had captured 10 titles in her career along with being on tour for 7 years. Giorgi was fiery into thinking that is the one more reason why she wanted to defeat her strong opponent.
The 28th ranked Giorgi had simply let Sabalenka become aggressive and dictate most of the shots. As a result the Italian lost the opening set 4-6. She didn’t want to let the match slip away and pressed hard, correcting her errors to win the second set 6-1 over the defiant Belarusian. She struggled to save two break points in the first game and didn’t want to trail in the next. Giorgi had forced consecutive breaks and was feeling more comfort by leading the second set 4-0. It was with a few sloppy unforced errors that Sabalenka was given one gift by Camila as the only game in the set. It was other than that which Camila won the second set 6-1.
It was incredible how the Italian young woman held her composure and stayed consistent by opening up the court, blasting forehand winners and stinging Sabalenka with down-the-line shots she didn’t expect and was ill prepared to handle. Giorgi kept her demeanor and was happy to have the aggressive hand on a seventh ranked player as Sabalenka. But Camila was able to keep the pressure on the Belarusian and not award her any games in this tense and suspensefully tough match. They met last year where Giorge won the Eastbourne International. Sabalenka won the Ladies Open Lugano four years ago in straight sets.
Camila Giorgi had the victory this time and feels well accomplished on reaching the second week at Roland Garros. She has never did this previously and this being the first major since four years ago at Wimbledon. She had tremendous rallies that helped to break Sabalenka but the Italian was the one who came up with the winning shot causing her to win the match. “I think it was a great game…it was just really fun to play there,” Giorgi had smilingly said.
The lanky Italian next plays opposite Daria Kasatkina. They have met only once in either of their careers. It was two years ago in the quarterfinals in Lyon, where Daria won in three sets. It’s the hope that Giorgi would remember or watch videos of how tough Daria can be. But if Camila stays consistent and headstrong with exceptional strategies she will be rewarded with another satisfying Roland Garros victory.