Sabalenka defeats Barbora, sets Cirstea clash in QFs

World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka powered to her fifth quarterfinal of the season after overpowering No.16 seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round of the Miami Open on Monday. Sabalenka will face Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday. Sabalenka went unbroken in the match and faced just one break point. One serve break, which occurred on the first break point of the match, decided the 34-minute first set. Serving with the score at 3-2, 30-30, Krejcikova hit her first double-fault of the match, and Sabalenka broke to take the lead for good at 4-2 after the Czech’s backhand slice into the net. Three games later, Sabalenka wrapped up the set by completing with 12 winners to 7 unforced mistakes while limiting Krejcikova to just one winner off the ground. Sabalenka continued to play the same way in the second set. The defending Australian Open champion was unbeatable on a night when she served at 70% first serves in and lost just 10 points on her serve. Krejcikova double-faulted twice on break points to hand Sabalenka a double-break lead and she closed out the 56-minute win with ease. “It was an amazing performance from me. I think I played really great tennis today. Super happy with the level, especially against a player like Barbora, always tough matches against her,” WTA.com quoted Sabalenka as saying. “I think in the last two matches I won the first set and every time in the second set I would get crazy on court and talking to myself, lose it a little bit. Today I tried to stay focused no matter what, keep doing my thing, and focus on myself,” Sabalenka said. “I think because of my serve today there was a lot of pressure on her. The key today was definitely my serve because I could play with more freedom on her serve. I could play closer to the lines and just go for it,” she added. Elsewhere in the match of Round of 16, The Romanian Sorana Cirstea’s sizzling run through the Sunshine Double continued on Monday, where she defeated Marketa Vondrousova