Australian Open 2026: Inconsistent Aryna Sabalenka Advances To Fourth Round

Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka overcame several bouts of inconsistent play Friday to beat Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and advance to the fourth round at the Australian Open.

Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in the opening set but Potapova saved all three set points to send it to a tiebreaker. Sabalenka led 3-0 in the tiebreaker before Potapova leveled at 3-3.

Sabalenka held two more set points and clinched the set when she laced a backhand down the line off Potapova’s second serve.

After trailing 4-0 in the second set, Potapova rallied to tie it 4-4 and again force a tiebreaker. Potapova had three set points to win the set in the tiebreaker, but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on.

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“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said of Potapova in her on-court TV interview. “I was always on the back foot. There are days where you just have to fight and . . . it was such a fight.”

Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys. Sabalenka has also won the U.S. Open twice.

On the men’s side, 25th-seeded Learner Tien of the USA, defeated Nuno Borges 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2.

In later matches on Friday, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz played Corentin Moutet, Daniil Medvedev faced Fabian Marozsan and third-seeded Coco Gauff played fellow American Hailey Baptiste.