The road to a third title in a row at the Australian Open continues for Aryna Sabalenka. Opposed to the dangerous Clara Tauson, 42nd in the WTA and recently titled in Auckland, the Belarusian won in two sets (7-6, 6-4) and 2h06 of play in the 3rd round this Friday at the opening of the program on the Rod Laver Arena. She has still not conceded a single set in Melbourne since the first of the 2023 final against Elena Rybakina. For her fifth consecutive round of 16 in the Antipodes, she will face the Russian Mirra Andreeva or the Polish Magdalena Frech.
Under a sun that made it difficult to serve, this game started in a very strange way for a confrontation between two good waitresses: seven breaks in a row were thus made, Tauson being the first to succeed in keeping her commitment to lead 5-3 . It was from this moment that Sabalenka clearly raised her level of play to come back and then snatch the tie-break after a battle of more than an hour. More aggressive and successful thereafter (39 winning shots), the world number 1 seized the opponent's commitment early in the second set (7-6, 3-1) before being caught (7-6 , 4-4). But she knew how to put in one last effort to get rid of an opponent who bravely played her luck.
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