(Melbourne) Favorite Aryna Sabalenka beat Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Sabalenka is seeking a third crown in four years, at the Australian leg of the Grand Slam. Her next rival will be the young Canadian Victoria Mboko, 16e in the world.
“I never really spoke to him. I never had the chance to interact or train with her. I saw her outside, she said of the 19-year-old Torontonian. She is a very good player and a fighter. She plays very good, aggressive tennis. »
Sabalenka led 40-0 in the 12the game of the first set, before having to play a tiebreaker. She took control 3-0, but lost the next three games.
The favorite snatched the set with a backhand along the line, on a second ball from her rival.
In the second set, Sabalenka blew a 4-0 lead, making the score 4-4. She once again had to win the tiebreaker.
“Anastasia was incredible,” Sabalenka said, on the field. I was always on my heels. There are days when you just have to keep fighting. It was a serious battle. »
Last year, Sabalenka was defeated in the final by Madison Keys at this tournament.
Later in the day, American Coco Gauff (No. 3) drew on her resources to come from behind and defeat her compatriot Hailey Baptiste in three sets of 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
The Czech Karolina Muchova easily corrected the Polish Magda Linette 6-1, 6-1, while the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva ended the fairy tale of the Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
