Sabalenka avoids it being curtains against Mertens
After breaking local hearts by knocking out home favourite Emma Raducanu in a rare old battle in the previous round, the top seed again had an uncomfortable outing against her old doubles partner and friend Elise Mertens before prevailing 6-4 7-6 (7-4) on Sunday.
It meant she had booked a last-eight place without yet dropping a set, even though none of her matches so far have been straightforward affairs.
"Roland Garros was also quite challenging," conceded the Belarusian, who's kept up her remarkable run of reaching the quarters in her last 11 grand slams.
"I love these challenges. I think every time you go through these tough matches, you kind of bring your game to the next level, and it helps to improve your game as well.
"I feel like, with every match I'm playing here, I'm getting better and better mentally and also physically. So I love these tough challenges. I only hope to get better and better in each round."
Next up for Sabalenka, who missed last year's event with injury and the 2022 edition due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, will be Laura Siegemund, the 37-year-old German who had caused the shock of the third round with her victory over Australian Open champion Madison Keys.
Siegemund had only won two singles matches in her five previous Wimbledons but has now twice that many in this edition alone, as she made it through to the last eight with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Argentinian lucky loser Solana Sierra.
The German does not lack for self-confidence but even she's a little shocked at how far she's gone as she's become the oldest woman player to reach a maiden Wimbledon quarter-final.
"Of course I am surprised. If you would have told me I play quarter-finals here, I would have never believed it," she said.
"On the other hand, it's a very simple math always in tennis. You have an opponent, either you find good solutions and you execute well, you go forward, or you don't, and you don't go forward.
"As I said after big wins before, I have this game and this maybe boldness to take out big names. I've always had that, just maybe because I don't care who is on the other side. In a positive, respectful way, I don't care."
Another veteran, 34-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, reached her first Wimbledon quarter-final in nine years, defeating Briton Sonay Kartal 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
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The Age
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- The Age
Piastri left fuming as 10-second penalty costs him victory in British Grand Prix
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The Australian
2 hours ago
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Lleyton Hewitt's son Cruz Hewitt wins on Wimbledon debut
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
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‘Stole the game': Wimbledon storm erupts as match marred by controversy
Wimbledon's much-maligned automatic line-calling system has come under fire after it malfunctioned at a pivotal point, resulting in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova being robbed of a crucial point on Sunday night (AEDT). For the first time ever, the All England Club does not have linesmen or women in 2025, with calls instead made by an automated line-calling system. The move has been heavily criticised and its introduction has now caused major controversy after Pavlyuchenkova had a point taken off her due to the ball not being properly tracked. Serving for the game at 4-4 in the opening set of her round of 16 match against Sonay Kartal, the 34-year-old stopped after Kartal hit a ball clearly long. However, the ball wasn't called out. After several seconds, an automated voice was heard saying 'stop, stop'. Chair umpire Nico Helwerth quickly called for help from tournament organisers and eventually ruled that due to Hawk-Eye technology not correctly tracking the ball, the point had to be replayed, despite replays showing it was several centimetres out. You can watch the controversial moment in the player at the top of the page. It proved a game-changing ruling with Pavlyuchenkova then going on to have her serve broken. The Russian was understandably irate at the changeover and accused organisers of favouring her British opponent. 'Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me,' she told the chair umpire. 'They stole the game from me. You stole the game from me'. In the end, Pavlyuchenkova regrouped to win the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, booking a place in the quarter-final. However, the disgruntled tennis star didn't let it go post-match teeing off on tournament officials. 'I just thought the chair umpire could take the initiative. That's why he's there sitting on the chair. He also saw it out, he told me after the match. I thought he would do that, but he didn't,' Pavlyuchenkova said. 'I think it's also difficult for him. He probably was scared to make such a big decision. But I think they should. That's what they're there for, sitting on the chair. 'Otherwise, I think, soon, let's just play without them. Right? Then we're gonna have everything automatic. 'I think we're losing a little bit of this charm of actually having human being ball boys. Like, during Covid, we didn't have ball boys. It becomes a bit weird and robot sort of oriented. 'They're very good at giving fines though and code violations. This, they don't miss. Every time, any little thing, they're just right there on it. I'd prefer they looked at the lines and called the errors, mistakes better.' Asked what she would have said if the point had ultimately cost her the match, the Russian quipped: 'I would just say that I hate Wimbledon and never come back here!' Tournament officials were quick to apologise after the match. 'We have apologised to the players involved,' a statement from the All England club read. 'We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology. 'In this instance, there was a human error and as a consequence, we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes.' However, it is far from the only incident at Wimbledon and fans have called for change. 'The new line call tech at Wimbledon was always likely to raise some eyebrows, but having Pavlyuchenkova replay that game-winning point against Kartal is disgraceful,' one aggrieved fan wrote on X. 'Umpire not allowed to make a call when the tech has very clearly failed?! Pavlyuchenkova's game stolen.' 'Anastasia Pavyluchenkova is absolutely right in telling the chair umpire that. That is embarrassing for tennis. It's embarrassing for Wimbledon, the ball was clearly out and the tech failed,' another wrote. While a third added: 'Absolute shambles with the technology. That was miles out' Several players have also voiced that they feel they have also been wronged by the new line-technology. British star Emma Raducanu said she didn't trust it, while Jack Draper said he felt it wasn't 100 per cent accurate.
