Switzerland Belinda Bencic (n.12) and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (n.5) firmly won their Australian Open third-round clashes with the Italian Camila Giorgiby 6-2 and 7-5, and the Belgian elise mertens (n.26), by 6-2 and 6-3, respectively, where they will meet in the round of 16.
It was the second time the Swiss had qualified for the fourth round at Melbourne Park after prevailing against the transalpine after one hour and forty minutes of play.
He extended his winning streak to seven after winning the Adelaide 2 title, as well as the first three encounters of the oceanic major.
“I am happy with the win. He is a very explosive player. He has a lot of power when he hits the ball. It’s not easy, of course, to play against him but I mentally prepared for it”, he commented after sealing a match in which he scored half the points from the others.
For her part, Sabalenka had to end her friend Elise Mertens’ hopes of winning five WTA titles, including an Australian Open in 2021 and a US Open in 2019.
The Belarusian, who started the year in an unstoppable fashion, put aside the friendship in the hour and 14 minutes of the match to put a favorable 7-2 head-to-head he had with the Belgian.
“The calmness I have on the track is very important. That’s it. I’m ready for everything, for anything that can happen”, commented a Sabalenka who did not make it past the round of 16 in Melbourne.
So far, Sabalenka and Bencic maintain a 1-1 record between them, after the Belarusian won in New Haven in 2018 and the Swiss in Dubai in 2019.
The Chinese also met as favourites Shuai Zhang (23) and the Czech Karolina Pliskova (30), who qualified for the round of 16 by defeating the American Kate Volynets (6-3 and 6-2) and the Russian Varvara Gracheva (6-4 and 6-2).
The 17-year-old Czech did not wake up from his sleep Linda Fruhvirtova by defeating her compatriot Marketa Voundrousova, by a tight 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3.
His next obstacle is the Croatian Donna Vekic, executioner of the Spanish Nuria Parrizas.
Source: La Verdad
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