Sabalenka finally reaches the quarterfinals

With authority, without having yet lost a set in four games, Aryna Sabalenka is for the first time in the quarterfinals of the Open the Australia. The Belarusian, 24 years old and number five in the world, won by 7-5 and 6-2 in 87 minutes Belinda Bencic and finally overcame the barrier of the round of 16, which she had encountered in 2021 and 2022. Now the Croatian Donna Vekic awaits her, who was able to beat the 17-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova. (6-2, 1- 6, 6-3).

“I am very happy for the victory and for the level at which I am playing. I have all my life (fighting emotions). It has taken me a while to understand that negative thoughts on the track don’t help, that you have to stay strong and believe no matter what. I am very happy with my mentality during the match. One of the keys to what I am doing is that my physio has been able to travel with me,” said Sabalenka, who three weeks ago was the Adelaide 1 champion.

The fact is that she looks centered and with the issue of double faults over. This time he committed four, nothing compared to the ten or more than he used to accumulate in past seasons, when he led this statistical section on the circuit. With the serve he now wins a lot of points. Against Bencic, 78% with first and 64% with seconds. And even though he plays less flat than before and spins the ball more, he still hits a lot of winners (32) and doesn’t make too many mistakes (18). Thus it is a clear candidate for the title.

Pliskova imposes her face to face and Garcia fails

Karolina Pliskova is strong. The Czech, 30 years old and 30th favourite, won by a convincing 6-0 and 6-4 in 55 minutes to the Chinese of 34 and 22nd, Shuai Zhangand qualified for the fourth time for the quarterfinals of a tournament in which she was a semifinalist in 2019. Pliskova imposed her favorable head-to-head (8-0 now) and her power (12 aces for a total of 33 winners). She will face on Wednesday the Polish Magda Linette, who gave the surprise by beating the French Carolina García, fourth favorite, 7-6 (3) and 6-4.