(New York) Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s No. 2 player and U.S. Open title contender, easily qualified for the Round of 16 on Saturday, beating France’s last-placed Clara Burel 6-1, 6 -1.
In the men’s draw, the world number one, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, played his third round at midday against the Briton Daniel Evans (28th), to try to also qualify for the 1/8th finals. The defending champion won the first two sets of the game (6-2, 6-3).
The 3rd player in the world, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, is also trying to reach the eighth. Opposed on Saturday evening to the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (32nd in the world), he could find the 20-year-old Spanish prodigy in the semi-finals if both continue their journey.
Facing Sabalenka, the step was too high for Clara Burel, 62nd player in the world, like the first point of the meeting, won on a devastating forehand by the Belarusian. Sabalenka folded the game in an hour.
“Very happy” with her “performance”, the world No. 2 player is comfortable in New York, where she has reached the semi-finals of the last two editions, and where she likes the “atmosphere” and “the public “.
On Saturday, she was more expeditious than in the first two rounds (6-3, 6-2 wins), especially in her first match where she had committed eight double faults.
“I’m glad I fixed that and served better,” she said at a press conference. “You really have to be mentally tough, because it’s a two-week tournament, and sometimes some games you don’t feel your best, it’s all about the mind,” added Sabalenka.
On the Louis Armstrong court, 22-year-old Clara Burel fought back but lost too many valuable points on her serve, including committing five double faults. In the second set, the Frenchwoman found the resources to win the first game on her serve and gave Sabalenka a bit of a hard time, even giving herself her only break point, which she did not convert while trailed 4-1.
Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open this season, will face in 1/8th the Russian Daria Kasatkina (14th player in the world) who beat the Belgian Greet Minnen (6-3, 6-4) on Saturday morning.
Another contender for the title, the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, 5th world player and finalist of the 2022 edition in New York, must face Saturday evening, on the Arthur Ashe court, the Czech and 31st world player Marie Bouzkova.
In the other part of the women’s draw, the defending champion and first world player, the Polish Iga Swiatek, is still in the running, as well as the American Coco Gauff (6th world player), in form after her victories in the tournaments of Washington and Cincinnati, and Denmark’s and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who is making a convincing comeback for her first Grand Slam since retiring in 2020 to give birth to two children.
Gauff, 19, and Wozniacki, 33, are due to battle it out for a place in the quarterfinals.