Sabalenka storms into the quarter-finals in Beijing and extends the winning streak to 15

BEIJING – World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka reached her 10th consecutive Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal on Wednesday after defeating 18th-seeded Madison Keys 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 of the China Open.

Beijing: Results | Order of play | Pulls

Reigning US Open champion Sabalenka has not lost since the quarterfinals in Toronto in August, putting her personal best winning streak of 15 games together. She also won 15 consecutive matches from Ostrava 2020 to Dubai 2021, earning her first Grand Slam title at the 2021 Australian Open.

She has won 30 of 31 sets in the current period and has only lost one set against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the third round of the US Open.

Sabalenka is in the quarter-finals in Beijing for the third time in a row and is aiming to reach her first semi-final in the Chinese capital. She will face either US Open semi-finalist Karolina Muchova or Spain's Cristina Bucsa.

Sabalenka improved to 4-1 against Keys with a confident serving performance that successfully dispelled the American's baseline threat. Sabalenka had a serve rate of 72 percent and won 84 percent of her first serve points, losing only five points in the match. Her high percentage and high conversion rate led to a perfect day at the finish line where she saved both break points she faced to remain unbroken in the match.

Keys played a flawless game, but her inability to break through Sabalenka's service points meant a short day. Keys finished the game with 22 winners with just 10 unforced errors, but converted her first serve point only 56 percent of the time. Sabalenka scored 14 game-winning goals with just eight unforced errors.

Sabalenka's run of ten consecutive quarter-final appearances is further evidence of her remarkable consistency this season. In the last 15 years, only current number 1 Iga Swiatek, who reached the quarterfinals twelve times in a row last year, has had a longer winning streak. Sabalenka owes her ability to handle her games with confidence and a clear head to a calmer attitude on the court.

“But I also had to deal with a lot of difficult things in the past,” said Sabalenka. “When you face certain things, you realize it's just a sport. Okay, if you don't win this game, what happens? Nobody will die. You won't die. It's okay. You will die.” Enter another tournament and do your best in the next one.

“Before it felt like something bad was going to happen if I didn’t win this game. I'm going to die, whatever. But thoughts like that create all this pressure, all this frustration, everything.” Nowadays I just work hard and try to improve every day when I'm on the court.

“If you do your best and don’t win the game, that’s okay. You learn and try better next time.”

Sabalenka's consistency has put her in position to hold the No. 1 position in the final weeks of the season, which includes the final WTA 1000 of the season next week at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open and the season-ending championships at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open to climb to WTA final Riyadh.