Wimbledon 2023: Aryna Sabalenka through to fourth round after straight-sets victory over Anna Blinkova

Aryna Sabalenka saw off Anna Blinkova 6-2 6-3 in their third-round encounter on Saturday afternoon at Wimbledon.

The No. 2 seed is now into the fourth round following victory over her Russian opponent.

Blinkova had impressed in her second-round defeat of Irina-Camelia Begu, but facing a player of Sabalenka’s quality looked a step too far at times.

The reigning Australian Open champion broke Blinkova three times to take the first set in style, leaving her poised for a routine victory.

However, Blinkova was able to break the Belarusian in the opening of the second set to go 2-1 clear with her serve still to come, but Sabalenka immediately broke back, and held serve to go 3-2 up.

In contrast to her more troublesome time against Varvara Gracheva in the second round, Sabalenka was in much more fluent form and broke once again to move 4-2 up.

Blinkova had a brief glimmer of hope thereafter but she squandered four break points with Sabalenka refusing to give up on the game.

At 5-2 the world No. 40 was left serving to remain in the match and moved 5-3 behind, but could not stave off defeat any longer as Sabalenka closed it out.

Speaking after her win, Aryna Sabalenka on her win against Anna Blinkova paid tribute to the crowd.

She told the BBC: “It was a tough game, she played really well. I am super happy I was able to win it, thanks for all the support and the atmosphere. You make this very special.

“It was like a nightmare, it was a tough game. Somehow I managed to finish that game with a win, but it was crazy and I was super happy to handle myself in it.”

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