World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka continued her quest for her third consecutive Australian Open title, defeating Russia’s Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals.
It was the 18th straight match win for Sabalenka, of Belarus, in Melbourne, Australia.
Andreeva, the No. 14 seed, won just 33 total points in the match, striking 10 winners against 18 unforced errors. Her serve was broken four times.
By contrast, Sabalenka had three aces among her 15 winners, making 11 unforced errors. She was pleased with her performance after the match, which was played in sunny conditions on a quick court at Rod Laver Arena.
“Today, I came out on the court and I was trying to put the ball back and the ball was flying like a rocket,” Sabalenka said. “I was super happy with the level today, and I hope conditions help me and I hope it’s going to be the same until the end of the tournament.”
Sabalenka moved to 9-0 on the season. In Melbourne, she has won 24 straight sets.
The next challenger for Sabalenka will be Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the No. 27 seed, who bested No. 18 Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (0), 6-0. The players stayed on serve in a tense first set, but Pavlyuchenkova shut out Vekic in the tiebreaker, then continued the momentum into the second set, breaking her opponent’s serve three times.
Also moving to the quarterfinals on Sunday was Coco Gauff, the No. 3 seed, who came from behind to beat Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Gauff hadn’t dropped a set this season until this match, which took 2 hours, 26 minutes.
The first set showed Gauff she needed to change strategy.
“I just was trying to be more aggressive in the second and third. Kind of play bigger because she was playing so big,” Gauff said.
In the quarterfinals, Gauff will meet No. 11 Paula Badosa of Spain. They have split their six previous head-to-head matches. Gauff will be bidding to reach her second straight Australian Open semifinal, losing last year to Sabalenka.
Badosa defeated Olga Danilovic of Serbia 6-1, 7-6 (2) to advance. Badosa battled back from a three-game deficit in the second set to win.
“The second set was a little bit tricky because I think I was 5-2 down, but it wasn’t like a real 5-2 because I was playing well,” Badosa said. “It was like small points there. I think I changed the momentum and I finished playing great again.”
–Field Level Media
