Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Olga Danilovic of Serbia in the third round of the French Open on Friday in Paris.
Sabalenka won the first five games en route to making short work of Danilovic.
The Belarusian has conceded just 10 games en route to setting up a match against 16th-seeded Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round. Anisimova posted a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Clara Tauson of Denmark on Friday.
While she has been downright dominant in her quest for her first French Open title, Sabalenka was quick to sidestep being labeled as the favorite at Roland Garros.
“It’s tough to predict in women’s tennis, you know. Let’s just leave it (the favorite tag) on Iga (Swiatek) since she won it, what, three times in a row, really, right?” Sabalenka said. “Let’s just … I will just leave it for her.”
Speaking of Swiatek, the fifth-seeded Poland native secured a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Jaqueline Cristian of Romania in a match that fell just short of two hours.
“I’m just happy that I was super solid in the last game and didn’t give any free points … she used her chances and went for it every time I gave her a chance,” Swiatek said. “It was a great match and I think pretty entertaining. We both played nice. I’m happy I’m through and happy with the performance.”
The win was Swiatek’s 24th in a row at Roland Garros. In order to push that number to 25 and tie Monica Seles for the second-longest Parisian winning streak in the Open Era, Swiatek will need to defeat No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Rybakina dispatched No. 21 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the 2017 French Open champion, 6-2, 6-2. Rybakina won 16 of her 20 first-service points (80 percent) and had a 24-14 edge in total winners.
Eighth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China notched a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Victoria Mboko of Canada, while 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.
In Friday’s later matches, fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy went 5-for-5 converting her break points in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, and Ukrainian 13th seed Elina Svitolina ousted Bernarda Pera 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).
–Field Level Media
