Aryna Sabalenka powers into French Open fourth round

PARIS: World number one Aryna Sabalenka’s French Open quest continued as she powered into the fourth round with a 6-2 6-3 victory against Serbia’s Olga Danilovic on Friday.

The Belarusian dominated her opponent from the start and although she faced some brief resistance in the second set, she easily set up a meeting with 16th seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States.

“I am super happy with the win, Olga is a fighter and I knew it would be a fight. She played like a top 10 player; pretty soon she will be in the top 10,” said Sabalenka.

Sabalenka started in ruthless fashion, racing to a 5-0 lead but Danilovic avoided the bagel by winning the sixth game on serve, going on to pull a break back.

The resurgence was shortlived, however, as Sabalenka wrapped up the opening set with another break of serve.

Danilovic put up a decent fight in the second set but there was no comeback on the cards as Sabalenka broke for 5-3.

The three-time Grand Slam champion wrapped it up with an unreturnable serve on a half-empty Court Philippe Chatrier – a common occurrence on early matches at the French Open.