Aryna Sabalenka on Monday overpowered fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the French Open last 16, after Matteo Berrettini reached his first major quarter-final in four years.
World No. 1 Sabalenka was too strong for a battling Osaka, winning 7-5, 6-3 in the first women’s night-session match in three years on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Belarusian next faces Diana Shnaider after the Russian left-hander beat former Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Photo: AFP
Sabalenka is the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws at Roland-Garros as she bids for a maiden title on the Parisian clay, and to banish the memories of her painful loss in last year’s final to Coco Gauff.
She has reached the quarter-finals at 14 consecutive major tournaments.
“I didn’t expect I would serve that great,” Sabalenka said. “I feel like I’m getting better and better with every match I play, and overall I’m super happy with how I played today.”
Photo: AFP
Osaka, again sporting the sequined gold dress she likened to the Eiffel Tower at night, had to make do with her best-ever run in Paris ending in the last 16.
It was the first time that WTA players had featured in the marquee slot since Sabalenka took on Sloane Stephens in the fourth round on June 4, 2023.
“I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions,” the top seed said.
Sabalenka took a tense first set that was largely dominated by serve after the players traded early breaks, courtesy of a crucial break in the 11th game.
She then powered through the second set, reeling off the last four games from 3-2 down to secure a third successive victory over Osaka this year.
Austrian 28th seed Anastasia Potapova could not back up her win over defending champion Gauff, twice failing to serve for the match in a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10/7) defeat to Anna Kalinskaya.
The Russian next faces Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska after she continued her remarkable run by cruising past the last remaining French player, Diane Parry, 6-3, 6-2.
“She’s one of the top players in the world. No one knows me, to be honest, so definitely a very challenging one, like every match here,” Chwalinska said of facing Kalinskaya.
There was something for the crowd to cheer after Parry’s defeat, though, as Paris Saint-Germain players Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Warren Zaire-Emery and Bradley Barcola paraded their two UEFA Champions League trophies on court after securing a second straight title on Saturday.
Former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini, who has been plagued by injuries, booked his first major quarter-final since the 2022 US Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (8/6) win over Jannik Sinner’s conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
The world No. 105 is the lowest-ranked player to reach the Roland-Garros men’s last eight since Igor Andreev in 2007.
“This [tennis] is the love of my life, I guess, otherwise I wouldn’t keep coming back after all the setbacks, the injuries,” said Berrettini, playing at Roland-Garros for the first time since 2021 and one of three Italian men to advance on the day.
Berrettini is one of only two Grand Slam finalists left in a wide-open men’s draw, alongside Alexander Zverev, after surprise early exits for Sinner and Novak Djokovic.
The 30-year-old next faces fellow countryman Matteo Arnaldi, who staged a dramatic comeback to beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 after 5 hours, 26 minutes.
World No. 104 Arnaldi outlasted Tiafoe, despite having trailed by a double break in the fourth set, in an epic match which finished at 1:08am, to reach a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli overcame some late nerves to beat Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Cobolli wobbled badly from 4-0 and 5-1 up in the fourth set, before finally getting over the line in a tiebreak to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final after Wimbledon last year.
“The match is never done and today I almost shit in my pants,” Cobolli said. “I’m happy, but I’m still nervous.”
The 24-year-old is to battle Canadian fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime for a semi-final berth.
World No. 6 Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked player left in the top half of the men’s draw and he laid down a marker with a dominant 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 success against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
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