Melbourne - Saba:
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked first in the world, qualified Sunday for the quarter-finals of the Australian Championship, the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis.
According to the (Russia Today) website, the title holder succeeded in outperforming Russian Mira Andreeva, ranked 14th in the tournament, in two sets without a response (6-1) and (6-2), to achieve her 18th consecutive victory in the tournament.
According to "Opta" figures, Sabalenka became the youngest player to achieve 18 consecutive victories in the Grand Slam on hard courts, since Serena Williams between 2002 and 2004.
Sabalenka will face Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 27th in the tournament and runner-up at Roland Garros in 2021, in the quarter-finals. Pavlyuchenkova reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the fourth time and the first since 2020, after defeating Croatian Donna Vekic, ranked 18th in the tournament, in two sets to none, with a score of (7-6) and (6-0).