Aryna Sabalenka continued her ruthless run of form at the Miami Open with a round of 16 win over Qinwen Zheng.
The top seed at the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami, Sabalenka has yet to drop a set from her three matches played.
She beat Ann Li 7-6(7-5), 6-4 in her opener, and has since beaten Caty McNally 6-4, 6-2 and Zheng 6-3, 6-4.
World number one Sabalenka now takes on American ace Hailey Baptiste in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open.
And she will be full of confidence going into that match, having just emulated legendary figure Serena Williams.
Aryna Sabalenka is now the — best women’s player of all time
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Aryna Sabalenka emulates Serena Williams at the Miami Open
As per OptaAce, Sabalenka is the first woman to win nine consecutive matches without dropping a set at the Miami Open since Williams.
The American achieved that feat back in 2002-03 with her total of 11, which the Belarusian will now be targeting.
Sabalenka is out to defend her title in Miami this year, having won last year’s final 7-5, 6-2 against Jessica Pegula.
Pegula is also into the Miami Open quarterfinals, where she is joined by fellow Americans Baptiste and Coco Gauff.
Significantly, only Victoria Azarenka (38) has reached more WTA 1000 quarterfinals than Sabalenka (32) among active players.
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Hailey Baptiste sends Aryna Sabalenka Miami warning
Sabalenka has fantastic momentum right now, but her upcoming opponent is also enjoying a dream run on home soil.
Baptiste has yet to drop a set from her four matches so far, three of which have come against seeded players.
She’s knocked out Jelena Ostapenko, Elina Svitolina and Liudmila Samsonova, and has now sent a warning to Sabalenka after her latest win.
“I think that I’m a pretty aggressive player,” she said.
“I like to go after my shots, and I’ve had to learn to balance the aggressive and conservative game style and know when to actually pull the trigger.
“I’ve got a pretty good balance right now.”
Of course, Sabalenka is also a very aggressive player, which coupled with the fact that they have yet to play against each other suggests that a blockbuster clash is on the cards.
They represent two of the most formidable servers on the WTA Tour right now, with fans now preparing themselves for an intriguing battle in Miami, where there will likely be very little margin for error.
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