Ever since the US Open, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has been yearning to play against World No. 2 Iga Swiatek. Sadly, Swiatek lost in the fourth round to Jelena Ostapenko in Cincinnati, causing her to descend to the 2nd spot after staying in the 1st spot for 75 weeks.
During that time, Sabalenka expressed her disappointment at not having the opportunity to play against the Polish tennis player because she “really wanted to have this battle and decide everything on court,” as per Insider.
“I was just sad and happy at the same time. I didn’t want to become World No.1 like this. I want a battle for this.” Sabalenka said, according to WTA Tennis.
WTA and bad weather
And finally, after almost two months of waiting for the opportunity to face her biggest rival, Sabalenka was ecstatic to face Swiatek at the GNP Seguros WTA Finals in Cancun.
And the two fought hard, putting their best foot forward in the semi-final match. However, the thrilling showdown was cut short following a downpour. The match was suspended after three sets, with the Bulgarian trailing 2-1 and 30-30 on serve.
Tonight's matches in Cancún have been cancelled as a result of the weather.#WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/WXi27vq6Yk
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) November 5, 2023
According to the WTA, the inclement weather also affected the doubles schedule, causing the doubles semi-finals to be postponed.
The association also notified the tennis community on X of the match suspensions, writing, “Play has been cancelled for the night ☔️We will be following up with a revised Order of Play for tomorrow shortly.
Play has been cancelled for the night ☔️
We will be following up with a revised Order of Play for tomorrow shortly.#WTAFinals #GNPSegurosWTAFinalsCancun
— wta (@WTA) November 5, 2023
Fans enraged at WTA
In the comments section of the post, the fans were highly critical of the WTA for failing to assess the weather conditions prior to the scheduling of the matches.
One fan wrote, “Come November, Cancun experiences the tail end of hurricane season. There could very well be rain, especially towards the beginning of the month. So how an Earth Steve Simon agreed to place the event there! Time to resign, Mr Simon.”
While another X fan added, “This final tournament is just horrible, bad performances from top players because of the court and the weather. Why are you doing this to your players?”
This was not the first time the rain had interrupted a match. Previously, Coco Gauff’s match against Jessica Pegula was also postponed for 14 minutes due to the weather.
During that time, Gauff was sitting on a bench holding her umbrella when suddenly a gust of wind caused the umbrella to flip inside out and break. She was a bit surprised and smiled as a helper arrived to fix the problem.
The weather is so bad in Cancun that Coco Gauff's umbrella literally crumbled pic.twitter.com/HsyNL68PT9
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 4, 2023
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