The marathon that this time did not win Sara Sorribes: "Oysters, it's three and a half hours!"
Accomplished specialist in long distances, Sara Sorribes Tormo did not find the usual happy ending this time. “There was a moment when I looked at the clock on the track and I said to myself:” Oysters, if it's three and a half hours! I didn't know we had been there for so long, “commented the Spaniard at a press conference after losing in the round of 16 at Roland Garros against Beatriz Haddad Maria, in a match that went to three hours and 51 minutes, the third longest in the women's draw in the history of the tournament. “Then I did the same as any other day: bike, ice bath, eat to recover and talk to my team to analyze what had happened.”
A tenacious competitor, with a career full of setbacks, the player born 26 years ago in Vall d'Uixó was close to victory, when she dominated 3-0 in the second set and had four balls to extend an advantage that seemed to have been final. “When I lie down on the bed, it will surely hurt a lot and maybe one day more, but at that moment he was just telling me that just as we were going 3-0 for me, we could go 2-2.”
Sorribes has played three of the 10 longest matches in the history of women's tennis in the professional era and this is the first one that escapes him. Last year he beat Camila Osorio, in Cleveland, in three hours and 54 minutes. Two years ago, in Rome, she beat Camila Giorgi at exactly the same time in which she was defeated yesterday.
«I know that he is strong, I know what works, I know how he trains. I try to be very focused on what is mine to take advantage of my options, but I knew that physically we were on an equal footing, “he answered the question about whether he felt at an advantage when the game was delayed in a situation in which he usually handles himself quite well.
the last spanish
She was the only survivor of the five Spaniards who started the tournament: Cristina Bucsa, 70th, Rebeka Masarova, 71st, Nuria Párrizas, 95th and Aliona Bolsova, 131st.. Also the one that started with the worst qualification, 132nd, after overcoming numerous physical problems that made her rush down the ranking. In 2022 he suffered a broken rib in Rome and on his return to competition, at the end of the summer, in Cincinnati, he broke the scaphoid in one foot.. He walked with crutches and a prosthetic boot for three months. “I finish this week and a half with great satisfaction, happy to feel capable of playing this type of match again,” he said..
He reached his best rank, 32nd, in March 2021 by winning in Guadalajara (Mexico) the only title of his career so far. After beating Petra Martic in the second round and the withdrawal of Elena Rybakina, current Wimbledon champion, who was unable to play her match due to illness, she found herself with a good opportunity to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Tournament for the first time. slam. Haddad Maia had much more status, yes, but he had been able to beat her in their last two matches, the closest in 2022, at the beginning of the season at ATP 250 in Melbourne, after another fight that left after three hours and six minutes.. «I am surprised at the way I have managed to compete throughout the time. Maintaining the level for almost four hours is something very positive.
Sorribes continues in the doubles draw with the Czech Marie Bouzkova, after her controversial victory against Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiati. When they dominated po 7-6 (1) and 1-3, a remainder of Kato violently impacted a ball boy, who cried as a result of the pain of the impact. The chair umpire, applying the regulations, disqualified the Japanese-Indonesian tandem, after consulting with the supervisor regarding the complaints of the Spanish couple. “We have not done anything wrong. The rule is the rule,” Sorribes argued on Monday.