Mar 29, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Aryna Sabalenka chases a shot against Jessica Pegula (USA)(not pictured) in the women's singles championship of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

tennis

‘She’s Mean’ – Aryna Sabalenka Pulls Off a Twirl Drop Shot en Route to Victory Against Anastasia Potapova

Sabalenka took just over an hour to go through to the next round!

The World number one, Aryna Sabalenka, got her Italian Open underway with a round of 64 tie against Russia’s Anastasia Potapova. Riding on the back of four consecutive finals, Sabalenka demonstrated an all-around game that completely demolished her opponent.

The Belarusian was not only in good form, but her overall power game was no match for Potapova, who has had her fair share of struggles this year. Nevertheless, Sabalenka took just 63 minutes to dispatch her opponent by a score of 6-2, 6-2 to move on to the round of 32.

RELENTLESS 💥

Less than a week after winning the Madrid Open, Aryna Sabalenka powers past Anastasia Potapova (6-2, 6-2) to reach the final 32 in Italy 🎾🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/9m5xlmdjsc
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) May 9, 2025

Sabalenka Hits Ridiculous Twirl Shot in a Comfortable Win

Both players started off with good service holds, but Sabalenka looked to be in fine form, sending down booming cross-court forehands at the start of the match.

The number one seed was also serving with power, but it was her accuracy that was doing more damage, as Potapova produced many errors on returns.

Potapova did, however, do well to stay in the game, engaging in long rallies and even picking up a few drop shots. However, at 2-2, Sabalenka went on to take the next four games in a row to win the set 6-2.

The highlight of the match came at the start of the eighth game on the Russian’s serve as Sabalenka hit a backhand drop shot after twirling in mid-rally to then set up an easy cross-court winner. The shot was so surreal that it felt as if she was toying with her opponent.

"She's mean" 😭@SabalenkaA | #IBI25 pic.twitter.com/gnJujmdWhs
— wta (@WTA) May 9, 2025

The second set started in a similar fashion as Sabalenka’s pinpoint serve was still on the mark, enabling her to hold comfortably for a 1-0 lead. While Potapova did have her moments, they were far too few for any sort of a comeback.

Match Stats

Sabalenka dominated the stats sheet with a first serve percentage of 70% that had both power and accuracy. She won 80% of the points on her first serve and 69% on her second serve.

Also Read: Iga Swiatek vs. Danielle Collins Head-to-Head Record, Preview and Prediction for WTA Italian Open 2025 Round of 32

As for Potapova, what hurt her was the 5 double faults she served. She also didn’t have a single break-point opportunity in the match.

Aryna Sabalenka	Stat	Anastasia Potapova
0	Aces	1
0	Double Faults	5
70%	First serve %	56%
80%	Win % on 1st serve	60%
69%	Win % on 2nd serve	58%
4/7	Break points	0/0
58	Points won	39

Aryna Sabalenka

Italian Open

Italian Open 2025

Tennis

WTA

WTA 1000

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!