Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked second in the world, bid an early farewell to the Beijing 1,000-point tournament with her exit in the third round after losing to Czech Nikola Bartonkova, ranked 34th in the world, 4-6, 3-6 on Sunday in an hour and 35 minutes.
The 20-year-old Czech player said: “I kept my focus to stay calm. “She is a legend...so I am very happy with this win.”
Bartonkova will face Austrian Senia Kraus, ranked 95th in the world, in an attempt to reach the quarter-finals. Sabalenka had five chances to break her opponent's serve in the sixth game of the first set, but she failed to capitalize on any of them.
Then she unleashed her frustration, after she threw her racket to the ground, after losing her serve in the second set, before surrendering on the first ball to decide the match.
Sabalenka, formerly ranked number one in the world, joined Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina, currently ranked number one, who lost in her first match in the tournament, in the second round, to Armenian Alina Charaeva, ranked 118th in the world (6-3), (4-6), and (3-6), on Saturday.
Germany coach Jurgen Klopp intends to give Bayern Munich goalkeeper Jonas Orbig a new opportunity to prove himself when Germany meets Greece on Sunday in the fourth round of the European Nations League.
Orbig kept a clean sheet during Germany's 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday, bringing the team to its first victory in Klopp's era, after its surprising loss at home to Greece a few days ago and before that, a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands.
Klopp used three different goalkeepers during the current international break, but he confirmed that Orbig will start against Greece in Thessaloniki.
The German newspaper “Bild” quoted Klopp as saying during a press conference, in response to a question about the goalkeeping position: “At the present time it seems that we will not make any changes in the match,” and he added: “It is true that the other players with us participate regularly with their clubs, while Jonas does not participate regularly, so he will get the opportunity to play. Everyone made a great impression, and there will be no problems at this center. They all performed exceptionally well in training, so it is good that we can do it this way.”
Klopp explained: “The matter actually has nothing to do with the first goalkeeper position. Usually players get the opportunity to participate with their clubs, but with us they can get playing time with the national team.”
Alexander Pavlovic, Orbig's teammate at Bayern Munich, is also expected to start against Greece, after participating in the press conference alongside Klopp.
Klopp joked about Pavlovic: “I already told him that this time he will not be able to speak in a way that would put him out of the starting lineup.”
Germany is seeking revenge for its sudden loss to Greece in Augsburg, in a match during which Christos Zoulis excelled and greatly disturbed the German defense, but he will miss Sunday’s confrontation due to injury.
Klopp said about the player’s absence: “It is not about who will play, but rather about how they play.” “I hope he recovers quickly and can play again within a week, two or three.”
The German coach praised the Greek team, expressing at the same time his confidence in his team's ability to achieve a second successive victory in the Nations League.
“In my opinion, this could be the golden generation of Greek football,” Klopp said. We want to field a squad that has a chance to win the match, a real and great chance. We'll see how many changes we need. Quite frankly, every player in the camp deserves to participate.”
Germany occupies third place in the group with four points, three points behind leaders Greece and one point behind the Netherlands, which is in second place.
Spaniard Carlos Alcarras, ranked third in the world, qualified for the semi-finals of the Tokyo Tennis Tournament (500 points category) on Sunday, after benefiting from the withdrawal of Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Shapovalov was forced to withdraw after the third game of the second set after suffering an injury to the upper right thigh during the first game of the same set. The score was 7 - 6 (7 - 3) and 2 - 1.
Alcarras, the defending champion, will meet in the semi-finals his compatriot Jaume Munar, ranked 64th in the world, who ended the career of Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet, ranked 86th in the world, after defeating him 6-4, 6-2.
Until the moment of withdrawal, the match was equal, as Alcarras seemed for a long time influenced by the diversity of his opponent’s playing style, which alternated between long and short balls and strong or carefully directed strikes.
After Alkaras was forced, in his previous match against Italian Matteo Arnaldi, to save 4 chances to settle the first set, this time he was forced to cancel one chance that was in his opponent’s favor when he was trailing 4-5.
After an hour and 3 minutes of play, the Spaniard won the first set 7-6 (7-3). But the confrontation ended quickly after the Canadian player was injured.
Alkaras is playing in Tokyo for his third tournament since returning from injury.
The third-ranked player in the world was away from the stadiums. Due to a right wrist injury between April and the end of August, before he returned to competition in the US Open, the last of the 4 major tournaments, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
