Reigning women\u2019s singles champion, Aryna Sabalenka, continued her title defence emphatically on Thursday afternoon, defeating Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-3.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sabalenka fired 31 winners to 11 in the 78-minute encounter to reach her 13th straight WTA quarterfinal \u2013 her last tournament where she did not reach the quarterfinals was in Dubai in February 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s [Cirstea] an incredible player, always pushed me really hard. Especially in the second set, it was a really great level from her,\u201d Sabalenka said. \u201cI\u2019m super happy that I was able to close this match in straight sets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to focus on my game, going into this match, on the things that I have to do to get the win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A potential Australian Open 2025 women\u2019s singles final rematch awaits the world No.1, with Sabalenka set to face either Madison Keys or Diana Shnaider in the final eight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keys denied Sabalenka the opportunity to become the first player since Martina Hingis between 1997 and 1999 of winning three-consecutive Australian Open women\u2019s singles titles, with the American winning her first-career Grand Slam crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MORE: Rybakina, Sabalenka, and Dimitrov headline Day 5 action<\/a><\/p>\n However, Sabalenka believes she is a better player for that shortcoming. Having since won 30 of her 36 hardcourt matches, including the US Open 2025 title, Sabalenka is ready to challenge Keys on Australian soil once again. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTwelve months ago, I wasn\u2019t really clear in my head after that loss, but honestly, she just overhit me, overplayed,\u201d Sabalenka reflected on her AO 2025 defeat. \u201cShe played incredible tennis, and I have to say that loss really pushed me so hard to keep working, make sure it\u2019s not going to happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s going to be her [that I\u2019m facing], I\u2019m so excited to face her again in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss out on the chance to be part of one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Tickets for the Brisbane International are on sale via\u00a0Ticketmaster<\/a>. Prices start at $30. Premium Experiences are on sale via\u00a0Ticketmaster and the Premium Experiences Team.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning women\u2019s singles champion, Aryna Sabalenka, continued her title defence emphatically on Thursday afternoon, defeating Romanian Sorana Cirstea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,176511,72820,85,747],"class_list":["post-398927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane-international-tennis-tournament","tag-news-article","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}