"Yulia Putintseva will invite me & poison my meal" - Aryna Sabalenka jokes after bagelling 'good friend' in Wuhan Open thriller
Aryna Sabalenka booked her spot in the Wuhan Open quarterfinal after beating close friend Yulia Putintseva in the Round of 16 on Thursday. The Belarusian came through in three topsy-turvy sets 1-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Both women, known to wear their hearts on their sleeves, entertained the packed crowd with some top-drawer tennis over the course of the match that ended with Sabalenka going on a spree of sorts.
On being asked about Putintseva’s reaction to not being allowed any opportunity to win any games in the final set, Sabalenka joked that she was now waiting for the Kazakh to invite her over for dinner and poison her meal to exact revenge. The top seed was quick to acknowledge her opponent’s culinary skills, saying Putintseva was a great cook who had a penchant for Italian cuisine.
"Probably she's not going to invite me for her really great dinner," Aryna Sabalenka said. "She's really good in cooking. Yeah, it's tough. She's making delicious. Probably I'll never try her stuff again."
"Or she'll invite me and she'll poison my meal. We'll see. I hope no," she added. "Yeah, the last one was I think carbonara. It was like Italian pasta. Was so good. I was like give me more, it was so good."
Sabalenka said it is never easy to play a friend, especially someone like Putintseva who is as emotional as the Belarusian herself.
"Yeah, she's my friend. I mean, it's tough. It's tough to play," Aryna Sabalenka said. "Especially we both are really emotional people. We were really going up and down, up and down with our emotions today. But I think we're still friends, which is good."
"We're competitors on court" - Aryna Sabalenka on separating on & off-court life after win over Yulia Putintseva
Aryna Sabalenka also spoke about the need to separate on and off-court lives after her win over Yulia Putintseva, saying while players can be friends away from the tennis court, but are competitors during a match.
The Belarusian said it was important to understand that each player is trying their best to compete and may not be on their best behavior during a match.
"But yeah, I mean, really good to separate this tennis life and off-court life with my tennis friends," Aryna Sabalenka said. "We're competitors on court."
"We are fighting for it, we probably behave not really in the best way, but we understand that. Off court we didn't bring, like, tennis life. That's really important," she added.
Sabalenka later on Friday scored a straight-sets win over Magdalena Frech to book her spot in the Wuhan Open semifinal, where she will take on Coco Gauff.