American Serena Williams faced Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Today, the American champion Serena Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open by winning (6-4), (2-6), and (6-4) against Aryna Sabalenka. Williams qualified for the quarterfinals after defeating Sabalenka in two sets to one (2-1) with the results being 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The first set was competitive between the two players until Williams broke Sabalenka's serve for the first time to win the opening set.
In the second set, Sabalenka broke Williams's serve in the first two games, but Williams, who is striving to win her 24th Grand Slam title, responded by breaking her opponent's serve. However, she could not withstand Sabalenka's attack, and the seventh seed broke Williams's serve again to lead (4-1) before sending the match to a decisive set.
In the third decisive set, Sabalenka stumbled first and made several errors on her serve, giving Williams a 3-1 lead. The Belarusian player broke Williams's serve again and tied the score at (4-4), but the pressure eventually got to her, and she served to stay in the match while trailing 5-4.
After the match, American champion Serena Williams said in an interview: "I am happy to get through this match. It wasn't easy, and I knew that. She chased every ball. Even the games I lost were very close. One shot here and another there, and I said to myself (Serena, you have to do this, you need to keep pushing forward)."
