Aryna Sabalenka has showcased her superior energy by blasting 32 winners to cost into the Australian Open quarter-finals for the primary time.
The world No.5 continued her excellent begin to the yr with a 7-5 6-2 win over twelfth seed Belinda Bencic at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
Bencic raced to a 4-2 lead however received simply one of many subsequent six video games, dropping the opening set with a double-fault.
Sabalenka’s superior serve was telling as she ran away with an eighth consecutive straight-sets victory of the yr in a single hour and 27 minutes.
“I’m super happy with the win today,” Sabalenka stated.
“(Bencic) is an unbelievable player, she played so good, and I’m super happy with the level today.”
Sabalenka has spoken about attempting to be extra “boring” on the court docket – conserving her feelings in test – and didn’t drop her head when down a break early.
“It takes me a little while to understand that negative emotion is not going to help you on court,” Sabalenka stated.
“You just have to stay strong and believe, no matter what, and do everything you can to get back in the score and to win the match.
“I’m tremendous pleased with my mindset throughout the sport at the moment.”
Sabalenka has made three grand slam semi-final appearances in the last two years but has never previously made the last eight at Melbourne Park.
The 24-year-old will meet unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic or Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova on Wednesday for a place in the semis.
Former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova has also reached the quarter-finals after beating China’s Shuai Zhang 6-0 6-4.
The Czech 30th seed blew through a near-flawless first set in just 21 minutes, pummelling 15 winners and half a dozen aces in the process.
Pliskova will meet both fourth seed Caroline Garcia or Poland’s Magda Linette within the final eight.
