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The World Number One showed rare vulnerability in Melbourne, battling past Anastasia Potapova in a gritty straight-sets victory that felt anything but easy.

Aryna Sabalenka, the iron-willed Belarusian powerhouse, looked mortal for a fleeting moment on the burning blue courts of Melbourne. In a match that tested her mental fortitude as much as her forehand, the defending champion fought through what she termed an "emotional storm" to defeat Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7) and book her spot in the Australian Open fourth round.
The scoreline reads like a straight-sets victory, but the narrative on the court was one of perilous margins. Sabalenka, usually a machine of efficiency, found herself dragged into a dogfight by the 55th-ranked Potapova, who seemed determined to derail the champion’s coronation march.
"I was emotionally all over the place," Sabalenka confessed in her on-court interview, wiping sweat from her brow as the Rod Laver Arena crowd roared. "There are days you just have to fight, and today was one of those days."
The match was a chaotic tapestry of unforced errors and brilliant winners. In the first set, Sabalenka led 6-5 and held three set points, only to watch them evaporate as Potapova clawed back to force a tiebreak. The tension was palpable. For a player who has worked tirelessly to banish the demons of her past mental fragility, this was a litmus test.
This victory was less about tennis and more about character. In previous years, a frustrated Sabalenka might have imploded, double-faulting her way out of the tournament. Today, she channeled that frustration into grit. "She played incredible tennis," Sabalenka said of her opponent. "I was always on the back foot."
For tennis fans in Nairobi watching the breakfast broadcast, Sabalenka's struggle was a reminder that even the elite have days where the engine sputters. Her path to the title defense is now clear, but the chinks in the armor have been exposed. She awaits her next opponent knowing that she cannot afford another day of being "all over the place."
As the tournament enters its second week, Sabalenka remains the favorite, but the aura of invincibility has been scratched. The question now is whether she can patch it up before she meets the likes of Coco Gauff or Iga Swiatek.
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