MELBOURNE: World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka beat Victoria Mboko with a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory at the Australian Open to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year.
She booked her 13th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal and has taken a crucial step towards having her name engraved on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup for a third time.
Sabalenka won her 20th consecutive tiebreak at the Grand Slam level, eclipsing an almost two-decade-old record owned by Novak Djokovic, who won 19 straight tiebreaks at majors between Wimbledon 2005 and 2007.
Sabalenka started off the match in punishing form and stormed out to a 6-1, 4-1 lead in just over 45 minutes. But the tip seed's serve was broken twice in the second set, including at 5-4, after failing to convert three match points.
Later, she found herself two points away from being pushed to a third set when Mboko pulled the 12th game to deuce. But in the end, Sabalenka found herself in a situation she's thrived in over the last 18 months: a tiebreak set at a Grand Slam and improved her unbeaten streak in such sets to 20 to finally see off Mboko's challenge in 1 hour and 26 minutes, reports WTA.
“What an incredible player for such a young age, it’s incredible to see these kids coming up on tour (She) pushed me really hard today, super happy with the win. It was quite a fight. I'm super happy that I was able to close this match in straight sets," said the two-time champion, who is yet to drop a set.
In Tuesday’s quarterfinal, Sabalenka will face off against 29th seed Iva Jovic for a place in the final four after the American earned an emphatic 6-0 6-1 win over Yulia Putintseva to secure her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal berth.