Mats Wilander praises Aryna Sabalenka for doing something he never believed she would as she reaches Australian Open quarter-final

Aryna Sabalenka remains on track for a third successive Australian Open title after reaching the quarter-final in Melbourne.

Sabalenka struggled with her serving in her third round match against Clara Tauson, with the WTA number one then going on to beat Mirra Andreeva.

Belarusian star Sabalenka is yet to drop a set at the Australian Open, with the top seed now facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals.

The 26-year-old beat Qinwen Zheng to win the title in Melbourne last year, having beaten Elena Rybakina in the 2023 final.

Sabalenka’s smash and first volley impressed Laura Robson in round one, where she overcame Sloane Stephens.

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Mats Wilander surprised by Aryna Sabalenka mixing up her game at the Australian Open

And Robson’s fellow pundit Mats Wilander is now the latest to have been left impressed by the world number one.

A former world number one himself, Wilander said on Eurosport: “She has really done to her game what we are asking Alexander Zverev to do to his game, and Taylor Fritz, Jiri Lehecka today.

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“She is not just hitting the ball as hard as she can, she is mixing it up and hitting some drop shots. I never thought she was going to be able to do that. But she has really done it.”

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Andreeva beat Sabalenka at the 2024 French Open, but the latter avoided a major upset this time around as she eased past the former 6-1, 6-2.

The victor needed just over an hour to secure the triumph, in which she hit three drop shot winners, one volley shot winner and one passing shot winner.

Tim Henman labels Aryna Sabalenka the ‘clear favourite’ for Australian Open title

Sabalenka has stormed her way into the latter stages of the Australian Open, with Rod Laver Arena having played host to all four of her matches so far.

She does, however, face another tricky opponent in Pavlyuchenkova, who has knocked out the likes of Donna Vekic and Laura Siegemund, who beat last year’s finalist Zheng.

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But given her formidable form, particularly on hard courts, Sabalenka is very much looking like the woman to beat this month.

That is certainly the opinion of former British number one Tim Henman, who added: “It is never going to be the nuts and bolts of her game, it is always going to be her firepower, but just that little bit of variation [has benefitted her].

“I see the changes off the court as well, she just looks in such a good place mentally. She is going out there and when she is dealing with adversity, when she is in difficult situations, she is not panicking and I guess when you are winning that consistently you are just building confidence all the time. She is clear favourite for me for the women’s title.”

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