Aryna Sabalenka won her 18th match in a row at the Australian Open

Double title holder in Melbourne, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, imperial against the young Russian Mirra Andreeva (15th), was on Sunday the first player to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The Belarusian, winner of the Brisbane tournament at the beginning of January, won 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour, signing her 9th victory in a row since the start of the season.

The first set, completed in 24 minutes, was one-sided. The second set was more closely contested, with Andreeva missing three break points in the sixth game to let Sabalenka escape at 4-2 and cruise to victory.

The world No. 1 will face the Croatian Donna Vekic (19th) or the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32nd) to try to secure a place in the last four.

Sabalenka won her 18th match in a row in Melbourne, her last defeat in the first Grand Slam of the season coming in the round of 16 of the 2022 edition.

The last player to have managed to string together 18 consecutive successes at the Australian Open is her compatriot Victoria Azarenka, winner of the tournament in 2012 and 2013 before being stopped in the quarter-finals of the 2014 edition. She is also the youngest to win 18 matches in a row on hard court since Serena Williams, between 2002 and 2004.

At 17 years and 272 days, Andreeva was the youngest player still in contention on Sunday. Semi-finalist at Roland-Garros in 2024, where she beat Sabalenka in the quarter-finals, the Russian had already reached the round of 16 in Australia in 2024 during her first participation.