Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Aryna Sabalenka is improving ominously swiftly with every round at Wimbledon as she sped past her biggest obstacle in front of an admiring Usain Bolt in the Centre Court Royal Box.
The world No.1 was expecting a tough day against feisty former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko, with the great Olympic sprint king among the VIP spectators, but her 6-4 6-4 win on Friday (Saturday AEST) to power into the fourth round was her most convincing performance yet.
She rated herself 8-out-of-10 for her first-round display and 9-out-of-10 next time out, but this was unquestionably an upgrade as Sabalenka booked a mouth-watering last-16 tie with fellow four-time grand slam winner Naomi Osaka, who’d earlier ended the hopes of Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3.
“She’s really dangerous and the last match I played against her, I couldn’t do anything. She just smashed me off the court,” said Sabalenka, referring to Ostapenko’s triumph in the Stuttgart final last year.
“I’m really happy that I was able to get this win, especially in straight sets, and happy with the performance, with the level.”
Coco Gauff, another grand slam champion for whom Wimbledon has proved a tricky puzzle, scrambled into the fourth round past fellow American Claire Liu, winning 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 after squandering match points in the second set.
It was another step towards the American breaking her ‘grass ceiling’ but, again, it was not easy for the world No.7 against a player ranked 139 places below her before she eventually prevailed in two hours and 26 minutes to match her best run at the Championships.
She will bid to break new ground when she takes on 11th seed Belinda Bencic for a place in the quarter-finals.
“I’m just happy to get through,” Gauff said in her on-court interview.
“I had some opportunities to close it out in the second set but I’m glad I didn’t let that derail me and I was able to come out with a win today.”
Iva Jovic, one of 15 Americans to advance to the third round of the singles draws, again impressed as the 18-year-old beat experienced Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 3-6 6-4.
American fourth seed Jessica Pegula continued to work her way through the draw as she put out Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro while 11th seed Belinda Bencic needed a deciding set tiebreak to edge past Anna Kalinskaya.
Barbora Krejcikova, the 2024 Wimbledon champion, took out Nikola Bartunkova 6-3 7-5 and will next take on another fellow Czech in 10th seed Karolina Muchova, who ended the run of Thai Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-2 7-6 (7-1).
