ARYNA Sabalenka just cannot stop winning at the Australian Open.
The two-time defending champion has now won 18 matches in a row at Melbourne Park after thrashing Mirra Andreeva yesterday in straight sets.
Sabalenka only took 62 minutes to dispose of Andreeva 6-1, 6-2, which was quicker than Sabalenka’s next opponent Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova took to win her first set against Donna Vekic.
“It’s always tough matches against Mirra, she’s so young but so mature and playing such great tennis,” Sabalenka said post-match. “I’m super happy, of course, to get through this difficult match in straight sets.”
Sabalenka had a clear lead in most of the serving related stats. She did not record a double fault while Andreeva recorded three, and the Belarussian’s first serve in percentage and percentage of wins off her first serve were better than Andreeva’s by 18 and 22 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova was made to work a bit harder than Sabalenka for her win, but still managed to advance in straight sets 7-6, 6-0. A knee injury to Vekic helped the Russian to wrap things up quickly in the second set.
Pavlyuchenkova was the only lower ranked player to beat a higher ranked opponent on day eight, with Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa winning the other two matches.
Gauff was made to work for her victory over Belinda Bencic, but ultimately prevailed in three sets.
“There’s still a lot to go for me to accomplish my goal, but I can say that I’m proud of myself and happy how I performed,” Gauff said post-match.
“It’s funny because I felt like not too long ago, maybe a couple of years ago, I had a really bad stat line when I lost the first set. I was really bad, so I remember my dad was like ‘you’ve gotta get some fight in you’, so every time I lose the first set I kind of think about that and try to dig even deeper.
Badosa, meanwhile, started strongly against Olga Danilovic, but then had to navigate past a second set tiebreaker on the way to her straight sets win. The result sees Badosa into the quarter finals at Melbourne Park for the first time.
“Today I was honestly really nervous when I came into the match,” Badosa said. “Sometimes you see matches as an opportunity. Today was one of those, I’m not going to lie. But I think I managed it really well.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN WOMEN’S RESULTS: JANUARY 19
A. Sabalenka (1) defeated M. Andreeva (14) 6-1, 6-2
C. Gauff (3) defeated B. Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
P. Badosa (11) defeated O. Danilovic 6-1, 7-6
A. Pavlyuchenkova (27) defeated D. Vekic (18) 7-6, 6-0
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