Aryna Sabalenka cruised past Naomi Osaka in straight sets in their fourth round clash under the lights in Paris to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
In the first women’s night-session match at Roland-Garros in three years, Osaka entered the court again wearing a golden, sequined bomber jacket which has become her trademark this tournament, but she failed to find a spark with her tennis.
Sabalenka, who has now reached at least the quarter-finals in her last 14 Grand Slam appearances, set up a last-eight meeting with 25th seed Diana Shnaider as she recovered from a shaky start to triumph 7-5 6-3.
“She is such a great player, she plays a super aggressive tennis,” Sabalenka said of Osaka. “I’m happy with how I was able to put back the pressure on her. It’s amazing to play the night session in front of all of you guys.
“I’m super happy with my serve. I’m super pleased overall with the performance today.”
Osaka opened a 2-0 lead courtesy of a Sabalenka double fault but the world No 1 immediately broke back and stole her opponent’s serve decisively for a 6-5 lead, whipping a powerful service return that the 16th seed could not control, her backhand failing to clear the net.
Following a tough hold for 3-3 in the second set, Sabalenka broke for 4-3, ending a long rally with a subtle half volley.
Osaka, who was playing in the fourth round at Roland-Garros for the first time, did not have more in the tank and she lost the remaining games, bowing out on Sabalenka’s first match point as proceedings wrapped inside an hour and 27 minutes.
Fourth seed Auger-Aliassime completes set of Grand Slam quarter-finals
Shnaider beat Madison Keys – the last American woman remaining in contention – 6-3 3-6 6-0 to book a meeting with Sabalenka in the last eight.
Elswhere, French hopes were dashed following Diane Parry’s 6-3 6-2 loss to 114th-ranked Polish player Maja Chwalinska.
Chwalinska had never been beyond the second round of any major, and her run is even more impressive having come through three qualifying rounds in Paris.
Chwalinska’s quarter-final opponent will be Anna Kalinskaya, who beat Anastasia Potapova 6-4 2-6 7-6 (10-7), ending her run after the Austraian had knocked out defending champion Coco Gauff in the third round.
In the men’s draw, 10th-seeded Flavio Cobolli advanced to his second Grand Slam quarter-final – and his first at Roland-Garros – after beating unseeded American Zachary Svajda 6-2 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5).
Felix Auger-Aliassime has made two Grand Slam semi-final appearances but both have come at the US Open
The Italian’s next opponent will be fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, after the Canadian hopeful made light work of Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 7-5 6-1 to reach the last eight at all four majors. He is yet to make it beyond the semi-final stage, however.
Big-serving Italian Matteo Berrettini also booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, ending the Argentine’s run in Paris that included beating world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the second round.
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