Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka defeated American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-3, to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open tennis tournament without losing a set.
The world number one suffered from a frustrating preparatory period before the last Grand Slam of the season, but she regained her level in Flushing Meadows, and put strong pressure in the second set against the player who had the support of the crowd, clinching the victory with a decisive backhand.
In the next match, she will face either Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, seeded 11th, or Czech Linda Noskova, the Wimbledon champion.
“What an amazing player she is at the net, and what a great return player. She’s very brave, and you can see how focused she is. It was a real challenge to face her, especially here,” Sabalenka said.
Any expectations of a one-sided match between Sabalenka, ranked first in the world, and Townsend, ranked 96th in the world, quickly faded, as they exchanged breaks of serve twice in the first four games at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sabalenka broke her opponent’s serve again in the seventh game, with a decisive forehand to take the lead, but Townsend immediately returned the break without losing any points in that game.
Townsend was able to find solutions to Sabalenka’s strong serve to lead 3-1 in the second set, but a double error enabled Sabalenka to return the break and decisively tip the balance of the match in favor of the Belarusian player.
Sabalenka quickly won the last four games to secure her place in the quarter-finals.
