Aryna Sabalenka’s red-hot hardcourt form continued on Saturday as she knocked two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova out of the third round of the US Open.
Sabalenka, a 20-year-old from Belarus, warmed up for Flushing Meadows with a first career title at New Haven and came into the tournament at a career-high world ranking of 20th.
Seeded 26th, she beat fifth-seeded Czech Kvitova 7-5, 6-1, belting 21 winners in a match lasting 1 hour 25 minutes.
Sabalenka said her solid showing in the build-up to the US Open had her dreaming of a major breakthrough, although having already surpassed her previous best Grand Slam performance she’s not putting added pressure on herself.
“Actually before the Grand Slam, I was thinking like, wow, I made a final, I made my first title. I have some power for a Grand Slam. I was thinking like that.
“In the first match, I felt pretty good, physically, mentally. I thought, OK, we will see. I don’t know – I’m just enjoying right now.”
Kvitova’s exit means just three of the top 10 women’s seeds made it into the fourth round.
Sabalenka, seeded 26th, will face Naomi Osaka, for a quarter-final spot in a battle of big-hitting 20-year-olds.
Japan’s Osaka, seeded 20th, railroaded Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-0, 6-0.
“I know she’s quite an aggressive player. She puts a lot of balls in, quite hard,” Sabalenka said. “I will just come on the court and just fight, fight for every point. It’s nothing to lose for me.”
Sharapova ousts Ostapenko
Maria Sharapova’s love affair with New York nights continued Saturday as the 2006 US Open champion swept past 10th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko and into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova is now undefeated in 22 night matches at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“There’s no doubt I feed off this energy,” Sharapova said. “We all spend so much time on the back courts with our teams practicing.
“When you get a chance to come out here why not give everything that you have.”
After some shaky moments in her first two matches, Sharapova charged through the opening set, aided by 27 unforced errors from 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko.
Ostapenko cut that down in the second, but she couldn’t halt five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova, aiming to bounce back from a first-round loss at Wimbledon this year that was followed by injury withdrawals from tournaments in San Jose and Cincinnati.
Sharapova next faces Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, who ousted sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
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