Aryna Sabalenka Advances to US Open Quarter-Finals

Aryna Sabalenka is starting to tread on Serena Williams’ territory now.

Under the lights at Flushing Meadows, with most of the crowd willing the underdog on, the two-time defending champion absorbed Taylor Townsend’s flair, the noise and a wildly erratic start to grind out a 6-4 6-3 win and reach a sixth straight US Open quarter-final.

It was her 18th consecutive victory in New York. Three years without a defeat at this tournament. The last woman to put together that kind of streak here? Serena.

Sabalenka bends, doesn’t break

This was no routine march into the last eight, despite what the scoreline suggests.

The opening exchanges were chaos. Five consecutive breaks of serve to start, both players cracking returns, both struggling to settle. Sabalenka’s power met Townsend’s variety, and for a while neither game held up.

Sabalenka, 28, eventually steadied first, but even that felt like a minor victory in a match that kept tugging away from her. Townsend, a doubles specialist with a taste for theatre, walked on court in a long, black-feathered outfit and then backed it up with bold, front-foot tennis, rushing the net and picking off volleys.

She forced Sabalenka to serve for the first set twice. She then surged 3-1 ahead in the second, the crowd roaring her every point as if it were match point.

That was the moment Sabalenka might once have cracked. Not this version.

Aware that only the title will give her a shot at holding on to the world No 1 ranking, she snapped straight back, breaking to love and ripping the momentum out of Townsend’s hands. From 1-3 down, she reeled off five games in a row. Across those final five games, she dropped just five points.

The contest, so wild early on, ended in a 75-minute sprint to the tape.

“I was just trying to stay focused on myself, not only point by point but ball by ball,” she said afterwards. “I’m happy I was able to turn around the second set, I think it was a key moment.”

She was right. Once she locked in, the match felt over.

Chasing Serena’s shadow

The numbers are starting to sound historic.

Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach six consecutive singles quarter-finals at the US Open. Williams was also the last player to win three straight titles here. Sabalenka is now three wins away from matching that run.

She has not failed to reach the semi-finals in New York since 2020. This place, these hard courts, bring out her most ruthless self.

Yet there is a tension running through her season. A fourth-round exit at Wimbledon still stings, and she is trying to avoid a first year without a major since 2022. That pressure showed in the way she celebrated the win: more relief than joy, more exhale than roar.

What stood out was not just the result, but the composure. Sabalenka has lived some messy nights in big arenas with the crowd against her. This time she kept a lid on it, even as Townsend’s daring approach and the partisan atmosphere pushed her to the edge.

“What an incredible player she is,” Sabalenka said of the American. “Approaching the net, a great returner, moving well, very brave. You can see how focused she was. It was really challenging playing her, especially here.”

Then, a nod to a crowd that had mostly backed the home hope.

“Thank you so much for being so respectful to me. I knew coming into this match that you guys would be on her side, but you were sometimes cheering for me and I really appreciate that.”

Respect earned, not given.

Noskova survives a rollercoaster

Waiting in the quarter-finals is Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, and if Sabalenka’s path was bumpy, the Czech’s route bordered on nerve-shredding.

Noskova, the sixth seed, needed six match points and every ounce of nerve to subdue Marta Kostyuk 7-5 5-7 6-4 in a match that swung wildly and refused to end.

She served for the match in the second set at 5-3 and held two match points, only for Kostyuk to claw her way back and snatch the set. An hour later, Noskova was still trying to close the door.

The final set mirrored the tension of the night. Breaks were traded, neither player able to fully pull clear, until Noskova again edged ahead 5-3. Again, the finish line wobbled. She missed two more match points, saw Kostyuk drag her to deuce, then squandered a fifth after saving a break point.

Only on the sixth chance, after two and a half hours of emotional tug-of-war, did she finally collapse to the court, crouching low in a mixture of relief and exhaustion.

“I am more than relieved, this match was so tough, emotionally a bit more than physically,” the 21-year-old said. “Today was very close, it could have ended both ways. With all the chances I had in the second set, it was tough to still kind of restart.”

Restart she did. Now she walks straight into Sabalenka’s storm.

A quarter-final with edge

Sabalenka owns this court at the moment. Noskova owns the most recent Wimbledon title. One is on an 18-match winning streak in New York. The other has just passed a brutal test of nerve.

Sabalenka’s hunt for a third straight US Open crown now runs straight through one of the game’s rising champions.

Serena’s records are no longer a distant reference point. They are close enough to touch.