Top seed Sabalenka knocked out of Italian Open in third round

Aryna Sabalenka was dumped out of the Italian Open in the third round by Sorana Cirstea on Saturday, the world number one falling to a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat in Rome.

Sabalenka is the second star name to be eliminated from the final big tournament before the French Open, with Novak Djokovic being knocked out from the men’s event on Friday.

The 28-year-old, who had been the favourite for the women’s title in Rome, hadn’t been knocked out of a tournament in the round of 32 since the Qatar Open in February last year.

But she failed in her bid for a first tournament victory in the Italian capital, with Cirstea facing Linda Noskova in the next round after claiming the biggest win of her career.

Sabalenka looked set for a quick and clean win on centre court after romping to the first set, but errors and grumbling soon began to creep in, in particular on her service game.

Cirstea broke Sabalenka’s serve three times on her way to levelling the match and she continued to pose problems heading into the decisive third.

Sabalenka lost her serve for the fifth time after saving three break points to go 3-2 behind in the third set, and two games later she called for a medical time out for a problem with her left hip.

Treatment appeared to get Sabalenka back into the groove once she drew level at 5-5 in the set.

But Cirstea held her nerve to win the next two games, sealing her first ever win over a woman at the top of the world rankings with her first match point.

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