Aryna Sabalenka has reached yet another Grand Slam quarterfinal after a comfortable victory against Amanda Anisimova.
The defending champion entered her fourth-round match in great form. She only dropped six games in her first three contests in Melbourne, which included a 6-0 6-0 demolition in the third-round.
Many players may relax somewhat after winning a match as easily as the previous round. But this is not the case for Sabalenka, who still wants to get better despite how comfortable she has been in in the tournament.
Anisimova is making a comeback to tennis this season after electing to take a break last year. It has been a success. She has played much excellent tennis to reach the fourth-round in Melbourne, including beating Paula Badosa in the last round.
Interestingly, Anisimova led 4-1 in the head-to-head before this contest, including a win for the American at the 2019 Australian Open. However, that was their only hard court meeting, and they had not played since 2022, with Sabalenka a much better player now.
Anisimova started the opening set slowly. She struggled to adapt to the pace of Sabalenka's shots, and last year's winner swiftly raced into a 3-0 lead after a number of unforced errors from her opponent.
The American started to serve well and was not broken again in the set. But Sabalenka was unstoppable on serve, winning all 15 points behind her first delivery. It allowed her to take the first set 6-3.
Unfortunately for Anisimova, history repeated itself in the next set. She began with a loose service game and Sabalenka was ready to take full advantage. The Belarusian broke to take charge of the set immediately.
There was no shortage of effort from Anisimova, who continued to fight. She managed to get to 0-30 on Sabalenka's serve soon after, but the world No. 2 hit four big first serves to get herself out of any trouble.
Sabalenka then broke a second time, and although she faced a first break point of the match in the final game, she saw off that danger to seal a 6-3 6-2 win after a clinical display.
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