MELBOURNE – Fifth seed Alina Sabalenka felt unstoppable as she sprinted into her first Australian Open quarterfinals on Monday, blowing away Belinda Bencic with a brutal power hit.
Belarus’ fifth seed won 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour, 27 minutes at Rod Laver Arena to set up a best-of-eight match against Donna Vekic or Linda Hrviltova.
Sabalenka ran into trouble just once in the match, dropping serve to the 12th seed Switzerland early in the first set.
But she showed a newfound mental steel that had often been missing from games in the past, and calmly bounced back and took the initiative.
“It took me a while in my life to realize that negative emotions do nothing on the court.”
“You just have to stay strong, believe no matter what, and do the best you can.
Sabalenka and Bencic have done well in Australia this year, reaching their first Grand Slam of the year as form players.
They won their respective titles in Adelaide this month and have yet to drop a set before their best-of-16 showdown in Melbourne, both going seven matches unbeaten.
The Belarusian had overtaken former doubles partner Elise Mertens in just 74 minutes in the previous round.
Switzerland’s Bencic was similarly dominant with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
The pair traded breaks early on to finish with a quality first set, but it ended on a sour note from Bencic who was the first to turn a blind eye to the constant pressure from Sabalenka.
Serving at 5-6, Sabalenka slammed a forehand return winner past Switzerland for two set points, but Bencic served a fourth double fault 52 minutes later to close out a highly ranked matchup. You gave your opponent an advantage.
At 2-1 in the second round, Sabalenka hit a deep return, hitting a fierce return again.
