Sabalenka's Rome exit worsened with injury concerns as French Open looms large

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Sabalenka[/a] needed treatment late in her meeting with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cirstea-sorana/fBPsm3Iq/"]Cirstea[/a] ‌on Saturday [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/cirstea-s-fBPsm3Iq/sabalenka-a-vyhksgUB/?mid=2RIJHM35"]before she fell 2-6, 6-3, ‌7-5[/a] for her second defeat in three matches after a quarter-final loss to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/baptiste-hailey/Cjagsdf4/"]Hailey Baptiste[/a] at the ‌Madrid Open last month.[/p][p][b]"I feel like ⁠I didn't play ‌well from the beginning till the end. I started ​really well, but I dropped the level," [/b]four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said ​in Rome.[/p][p][b]"I felt like my body was limiting me from performing at the highest level. She ⁠stepped in and ​played incredible tennis. She didn't really give me many opportunities.[/b][/p][p]"That was a tough one. But I guess we never lose; we only learn, ‌so it's okay."[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="00874c29-dace-449b-b146-36ed002ae423" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="b5e7ffd8-1777-4720-8fa8-4ebea58b9590" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Sabalenka's disappointing claycourt swing follows a stellar run on hardcourts, during which she captured the Brisbane title, reached the Australian Open final and claimed back-to-back trophies in Indian Wells and Miami.[/p][p]The Belarusian said she now hoped to recover her fitness in time for the French Open, which gets underway in Paris on ‌May 24th, after losing last year's final ​against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gauff-coco/f5BXmEH6/"]Coco Gauff[/a].[/p][p][b]"I'd say that probably it's ‌like my lower back, connected to the hip, which limited my full rotation," [/b]the 28-year-old added.[/p][p][b]"I guess we're just going to have some days off. We're going to spend ⁠it on recovery. ⁠That's the plan for ‌now."[/b][/p][embed guid="f300c9c4-b5c8-44c3-a8e5-d3546b49c9c5" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6TwqVMycLQ" social-type="youtube" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/tennis/wta-singles/rome/"]Follow the rest of the Italian Open here.[/a][/b][/p]