Aryna Sabalenka reached the US Open quarter-finals for the fourth 12 months in a row with an assured victory over Elise Mertens.
Second seed Sabalenka, crushed by Coco Gauff within the New York last final 12 months, noticed off her former doubles accomplice Mertens 6-2 6-4.
The Belarusian hit 41 winners and saved all eight of the break factors that Belgium’s Mertens created.
Sabalenka is the primary girl to achieve 4 consecutive girls’s singles quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2016.
She has now made the quarter-finals or higher in her previous eight Grand Slam appearances.
Her final defeat earlier than that stage got here on the 2022 Australian Open, the place she was crushed by Kaia Kanepi within the fourth spherical. She has not misplaced a match in Melbourne since, successful the title in 2023 and defending it in January this 12 months.
Sabalenka will face China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who beat silver medallist Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-2, within the final eight.
A match which lasted two hours 50 minutes ended at 2.15am native time on Monday, the newest end to a girls’s US Open match.
Sabalenka beat Zheng within the Australian Open last this 12 months.
Paula Badosa earlier breezed previous Wang Yafan 6-1 6-2 to arrange a quarter-final in opposition to Emma Navarro, who ended Gauff’s title defence in a three-set win.