(Beijing) Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who hopes to overtake world number one Iga Swiatek by the end of the season, qualified Wednesday for the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing by beating American Madison Keys 6- 4, 6-3, sound 15e success in a row.
In the next round, the Belarusian, seeded N.1, will face the Czech Karolina Muchova (49e), who easily dominated Spain’s Cristina Bucsa, 6-2, 6-0.
Sabalenka will have to be wary against Muchova: the double semi-finalist at the United States Open actually leads two victories to one in their confrontations.
If she triumphs in China, the current world No.2 can come very close in the ranking to Iga Swiatek, title holder in Beijing, but absent this year for “personal reasons”.
Under the autumn sun, Sabalenka did not lag behind Keys (24e), who lost to a double fault on the first match point, after only 1 hour 05 minutes of play.
Victorious this season at the Australian Open and the United States Open, the 26-year-old has not been beaten since the quarter-final of the WTA 1000 in Toronto at the beginning of August.
Aryna Sabalenka, who already occupied the place of world No.1 in September 2023, before being dethroned by Swiatek, did not hide her ambition before starting her journey in Beijing.
“Of course it is one of my goals to finish the season as world number 1,” the Belarusian declared last week, specifying however that she did not want to “focus on that”.
“I just want to play my best tennis on the court,” she added, noting that there were “only three tournaments” left this season.