Sabalenka powers into Roland Garros quarter-finals
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka celebrates her victory over American Amanda Anisimova in their French Open fourth-round match at Roland-Garros. (AP pic)
PARIS : World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka reached her 10th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final on Sunday with a straight-sets win over Amanda Anisimova in the French Open fourth round.
The Belarusian battled through a tight opening set against the American 16th seed and then needed eight match points to clinch a 7-5, 6-3 victory on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Sabalenka, who was the pre-tournament favourite, will face Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the last eight after the Chinese star edged past Liudmila Samsonova.
Zheng beat Sabalenka for the first time in their seven meetings in the Italian Open quarter-finals in the build-up to Roland Garros.
'She's a great player. Of course, I expect a great battle, and I'm super excited to face her in the quarter-finals, and I want to get my revenge,' said Sabalenka.
'I want to get this win after Rome, so I'm happy to face her in the quarters.'
Anisimova holds a 5-3 winning record over Sabalenka but has now lost their last two matches.
The 23-year-old, a French Open semi-finalist in 2019, won her maiden WTA 1000 title in Doha earlier this season.
'I'm building my confidence against her, and I improved my game a lot over the years,' added Sabalenka.
'I think now I have everything I need to get all of those wins back against her.'
The 27-year-old, who has never reached a French Open final, suffered a shock defeat in the quarters last year against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.
'I think in the last year I improved a lot in my game, and I think now going to the French Open, I don't have those doubts that I cannot play on clay, so maybe I'm more confident this year,' she said.
'Before going to the French Open, like previous years, I was, like, 'I'm not sure'. There's Iga and players that are much better in movement, much better in a lot of things. I'm not sure that I'm ready yet.
'Now going to the French Open I know that I'm ready, and I'm super excited, and I really hope that I'm going to be very proud of myself by the end of this tournament.'
Anisimova pushed Sabalenka in the first set, breaking the top seed when she was serving to clinch the opener.
But two missed break points in the 11th game proved costly as Sabalenka went on to secure a one-set lead.
The three-time Grand Slam champion quickly built a 3-0 advantage in the second set.
Anisimova showed real grit to save six match points in a marathon hold of serve to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Sabalenka finally finished it off on her own serve at the eighth time of asking with a thumping backhand winner.
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