Melbourne ¨C An emotional Aryna Sabalenka survived a thorough examination from Anastasia Potapova before reaching the last 16 of the Australian Open on Friday to keep her on track for a third title in Melbourne.
The four-time Grand Slam champion needed 2 hours, 2 minutes to see off the unseeded Russia-born Austrian Potapova 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7) as the temperature climbed at Rod Laver Arena.
It set up a clash with fast-rising Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko for a place in the quarterfinals after the No. 17 seed battled past Danish No. 14 seed Clare Tauson in three sets.
¡°I was always on the back foot, and to be honest, there¡¯s days where you just have to be there, just have to fight and try your best to put the ball back on that side,¡± said top-seeded Sabalenka, who was stunned in the final by Madison Keys 12 months ago.
¡°Even though emotionally I was all over the place, I was able to still fight for every point. It was such a fight, and I really enjoyed it.¡±
While safely through, Sabalenka will need to sharpen up to go all the way again, with 44 unforced errors ¡ª to Potapova¡¯s 25 ¡ª a blot on the victory.
Potapova had never gone beyond the third round in seven previous appearances and had never beaten a world No. 1.
But she showed no signs of nerves against the Belarusian, who is chasing her third title in four years.
Both players were broken in their first service games as they felt their way into a contest marked by heavy groundstrokes.
Little separated them until the 12th game when Sabalenka turned up the heat to work four set points on Potapova¡¯s serve.
But the gritty Potapova saved them all and held on to take the set to a tiebreak, where Sabalenka finally took charge.
It sparked her to life, and she crunched winners to break Potapova twice and open a 3-0 lead in the second set, with the Austrian seemingly out of ideas.
Sabalenka looked destined for a quick finish, but Potapova found a second wind and broke twice to pull even at 4-4 and frustrate the top seed.
Sabalenka responded to break back, but lost focus serving for the match and let an unrelenting Potapova back in the contest to send it to another tiebreak.
Showing a champion¡¯s spirit, the Belarusian saved four set points before finally seeing off the Austrian to bank a testing win.
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