Sabalenka achieved her 14th consecutive win in Australia
BRISBANE: Aryna Sabalenka recorded her 14th consecutive win on Australian soil with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kasatkina to reach the last four of the Brisbane International. The defending Australian Open champion has lost only nine games from three matches so far this week in his first appearance at the tournament.
She will next face eighth seed Victoria Azarenka, which will be the pair’s fifth career meeting; Sabalenka holds a 3-1 head-to-head lead so far, including wins in the 2020 Ostrava final and their most recent meeting in the 2021 Montreal quarterfinals.
In men’s singles, top seed Holger Rune of Denmark made a bright start as he defeated James Duckworth 6-2, 7-6(6) and reached the semi-finals.
The 20-year-old Roon reeled off five consecutive games to win the opening set inside Pat Rafter Arena and fought hard to earn a tie-break in the second set and record an hour, 46-minute victory in his first ATP match. A head-to-head clash with home favorite Duckworth.
The Dane will look to continue his impressive start to the year in the semi-finals against Roman Safiulin, who defeated Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(4), 6-2 on Friday. Meanwhile, second seed Grigor Dimitrov also booked his place in the last four with a straight sets win.
The Bulgarian defeated Rinki Hijikata 6-1, 6-4 to reach the Brisbane semi-finals for the fifth time.
By improving to 21–6 on the ATP 250, Dimitrov extended his lead as the player with the most wins in tournament history. The 2017 champion’s next opponent in Queensland could be Rafael Nadal if the Spaniard beats home favorite Jordan Thompson on Friday.
