Seeds fall at Dubai Tennis Open as Sabalenka, Paolini and Pegula exit in Round of 16

DUBAI: Out of sorts and out of the tournament, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka exited the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday night after a 3-6, 2-6 defeat to unseeded Clara Tauson of Denmark.

The Belarusian was far from the only top seed to fall, with reigning champion Jasmine Paolini, World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, and World No. 9 Emma Navarro all crashing out to unseeded opponents.

Tauson, the world No. 38, claimed the biggest scalp though, with her emphatic win against three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka taking the 22-year-old to a WTA 1000 quarterfinal for the first time in her career. Sabalenka, in contrast, has now failed to reach the last eight in Dubai in six of her nine attempts.

Dominating the Belarusian for close to an hour and a half, Tauson served seven aces, broke her opponent’s serve six times, and resolutely held the lead from as early as the third game. The Dane’s victory came just a month after suffering a third-round loss to Sabalenka at the Australian Open.

“Last time I had my chances too, but didn’t take them,” Tauson said on Centre Court after taking her record against top 10 players to 2-8. “This time I felt really free and knew that she had to beat me; I was the underdog all the way, so I really enjoyed my time on court and I’m just really looking forward to my next one.”

Sabalenka congratulated her opponent, but was quick to lay blame squarely on herself. “(Clara) played great tennis, and I didn’t play my best,” said the three-time Grand Slam winner. “That’s it. She had a bit more preparation and was hungrier than me. Well done to her; not very well done to me.”

Sabalenka said she needs to rethink her approach to the Middle East swing — which features tournaments in Abu Dhabi,