Sabalenka avoids it being curtains against Mertens

Yahoo

a day ago

Aryna Sabalenka is loving each strident challenge as she moves ever closer to her maiden Wimbledon title, with the world No.1 and big tournament favourite coming through another bracing test on Centre Court to reach the quarter-finals.
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.
One step closer to achieving a lifelong dream ✨#Wimbledon | @SabalenkaA pic.twitter.com/f1DUOqkAej
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2025
"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.