Aryna Sabalenka broke Novak Djokovic’s Open era record of consecutive tie-breaks won at Grand Slams to defeat teenage Canadian Victoria Mboko and set up a mouth-watering Australian Open quarter-final against another of tennis’ rising stars – 18-year-old Iva Jovic.
The two-time champion won 6-1 7-6 (7-1) on Rod Laver Arena – sealing it with her 20th tie-break triumph in a row – and is yet to drop a set at this year’s Australian Open.
“It’s putting pressure on my opponents so that is what I like playing tie-breaks nowadays,” Sabalenka said after her latest victory.
“I just go into the tie-breaks and try to not think about this is a tie-break and I try and play point by point and I guess that’s the key to this consistency.”
In response to his record being topped, 24-time major winner Djokovic jokingly posted on X: “I’m upset right now”.
Belarusian Sabalenka has now reached at least the quarter-finals in 13 consecutive Grand Slam appearances and is two wins away from a fourth successive final in Melbourne.
The champion in 2023 and 2024, Sabalenka lost last year’s final to American Madison Keys.
“Her tie-break record is absolutely incredible, and she has always backed herself when the pressure is on,” said former British number one Annabel Croft on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
The 27-year-old appeared to be cruising towards a comfortable victory against 17th seed Mboko, leading by a set and a double break.
However, she almost let a 4-1 lead slip in the second set and eventually clinched victory in a tie-break.
Former world number five Daniela Hantuchova added: “When you’re going into a tie-break she only has one plan and she trusts it.
“She is never ever going to question herself, and that is not an easy thing to do when you are a set and 4-1 up – and suddenly you find yourself in a very, very difficult and stressful position.”
Teenager Jovic says she is “really excited” to test herself against “the best” after booking a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final against Sabalenka.
The American dropped only one game in a convincing 6-0 6-1 win against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
Asked about meeting Sabalenka in the next round, Jovic said: “I think I’m just going to try to keep taking care of my side of the net.
“Obviously she’s number one for a reason and has had so much success at this tournament, but that’s what I want.
“I said last year that I hoped to be able to play here this year, because you definitely want to play the best and see how it goes. I’m really excited.”
Jovic, who is the 29th seed in Melbourne, had not previously been beyond the second round of a major.
She backed up a straight-set win over seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, her first victory against a player ranked in the world’s top 10, by breezing through her fourth-round tie against Putintseva in just 53 minutes.
Coco Gauff made it safely through to the quarter-finals in Melbourne for a third successive year with a resilient win over Czech 19th seed Karolina Muchova.
The world number three raced through the first set, but Muchova pulled back in the second before Gauff held her nerve to serve out the 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory on her fourth match point.
Gauff, a two-time major champion, has gone on to win all four tournaments in which she has faced Muchova – including the 2023 US Open.
However, she has never reached the final at Melbourne.
The 21-year-old will face Russian eighth seed Mirra Andreeva or Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, seeded 12th, in the quarter-finals.
Speaking after her win, Gauff credited her run to the last eight to “trusting myself”.
“My history has been tough with the serve but I think today was great, there was one loose serve in the second set but after that it was pretty good,” she said.
“That’s the biggest thing, just trusting myself and knowing that I’ve put in the work in practice and knowing it will show up in the matches.
Gauff then wrote “confidence is the key” on a camera lens after the victory, which improved her head-to-head record with Muchova to 5-0.
Originally published at BBC Sport
