Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 victory over Clara Burel on Saturday in New York.
Saturday’s result marked the second time in as many years that Sabalenka dropped two games against Burel in a third-round match at the U.S. Open. The Belarusian posted a 6-0, 6-2 triumph over the Frenchwoman in 2022.
Sabalenka is looking to bookend her season with Grand Slam victories, winning 2023’s first major at the Australian Open and seeking the title in New York at the season’s final major.
A win at the U.S. Open also would vault Sabalenka to No. 1 in the world rankings, displacing Iga Swiatek of Poland.
On Saturday, Sabalenka recorded 21 winners to dismiss Burel in exactly one hour and set a clash against 13th-seeded Daria Kasatkina.
Kasatkina advanced to the fourth round at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2017 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over qualifier Greet Minnen of Belgium. She needed just 88 minutes to dispatch Minnen, ranked No. 97 in the world.
Later Saturday, third-seeded Jessica Pegula was set to challenge No. 26 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, No. 5 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia will face No. 31 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and No. 9 Marketa Vondrousova, also a Czech, will tangle with No. 22 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.
Other matches Saturday: No. 14 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia versus No. 17 Madison Keys, No. 23 Qinwen Zheng of China against Lucia Bronzetti of Italy; and Great Britain’s Katie Boulter opposed by Peyton Stearns.
–Field Level Media