Aryna Sabalenka stayed on course for a historic third straight Australian Open crown on Sunday, ruthlessly outclassing youngster Mirra Andreeva to reach the quarter-finals. Sabalenka was in irresistible form at Rod Laver Arena, scoring a 6-1, 6-2 victory in just 62 minutes over the 17-year-old Russian, the Belarusian’s 18th straight win at Melbourne Park. “I’m very happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets,” said Sabalenka, who will next face Croatian Donna Vekic (18th seed) or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27th seed) of Russia.
“She is so young, but she always plays great tennis, you always have to fight with her.”
Despite three wins in a row, Sabalenka was not at her best in the first week.
She dropped serve three times in the second round and five times before beating Clara Towson 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to advance to the round of 16.
She had no such problems in much warmer conditions against Andreeva, holding her first two serves without allowing a run to take a 4–1 lead.
“The previous days were such difficult conditions, the ball was so heavy,” Sabalenka said.
“The ball flew like a rocket. I hope the conditions will remain the same until the end of the tournament.”
Andreeva struggled to live with Sabalenka’s power and was pushed further back as the champion delivered a deft winner to take a 5-1 lead.
A tasty backhand pass ended the set in just 24 minutes.
Sabalenka didn’t let up early in the second set, with an early break giving her a 3-1 lead.
Andreeva showed a fleeting glimpse of her talent by saving two break points in the next game.
She then created three of her own, but all were saved and Sobolenka’s juggernaut could not be stopped as she raced to the finish line.
Sabalenka could complete a hat-trick of consecutive victories at the Australian Open.
This is a rare feat, last achieved by Martina Hingis 26 years ago, and can only be matched by four other women in history, all of them legends of the sport.
Margaret Court, Yvonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles are the others who completed the treble.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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