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New Delhi: Top seed Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka edged past Austria's Anastasia Potapova in a hard-fought contest at the Rod Laver Arena to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open 2026.
Sabalenka won the contest 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7) to continue her stunning streak in tiebreakers in Majors. Remarkably, Sabalenka has now won her last 19 Grand Slam tiebreaks, the longest winning streak in the Open Era.
The two-time former champion survived a lapse against Anastasia Potapova and had to dig deep to get past the spirited Austrian. The world No. 1 was broken while serving for the match, then saved four set points to win a gruelling contest that lasted 2 hours and 2 minutes.
The four-time Major winner sealed her sixth consecutive fourth-round appearance at Melbourne Park, where she claimed back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. Her dreams of claiming a hat-trick of wins were shattered in the 2025 edition when she lost a thrilling final to American Madison Keys.
"She played incredible tennis. I was always on the back foot and, to be honest, there are days where you just have to be there, just have to fight," Sabalenka said on court after the win.
"Emotionally I was all over the place ... I was just trying to cool myself down, which wasn't working well today. My brain was somewhere else, my arms were going in another direction.
"Somehow, magically, I was able to get this win."
Sabalenka will next face Canadian teenager and debutant Victoria Mboko, who beat Danish 14th seed Clara Tauson 7-6, 5-7, 6-3. Courtesy of the battling win, the 19-year-old became the first Canadian to reach the last-16 of the Australian Open since Eugenie Bouchard in 2015.
In men's singles, American Learner Tien stormed past Portugal's Nuno Borges 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round. After a tough fight in the first set tiebreak, where the 25th seed saved several set points, he sailed through the next two sets in a little over an hour to progress.
