© Getty Images Sport – Chris Hyde
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have been safely through to the Brisbane International quarterfinal following extremely dominant wins on Thursday.
Sabalenka, the top-seeded player in Brisbane, crushed world No. 33 Zhu Lin 6-1 6-0. After losing a total of three games in her opening win over Lucia Bronzetti, Sabalenka delivered an even more dominant performance on Thursday.
Following her win over Zhu, 2023 Australian Open champion Sabalenka improved her winning streak in Australia to 13 matches. Also, 25-year-old Sabalenka now owns a 4-0 head-to-head against Zhu.
Meanwhile, second-seeded Rybakina also delivered a brutal performance on Thursday, destroying No. 13 seed Elise Mertens 6-1 6-0. Going into the match, Rybakina was the favorite to win. However, no one really expected Rybakina to beat former world No. 12 Mertens by just one game lost. Rybakina, 23, now has four wins and one loss against Mertens.
Sabalenka won 12 games in a row against Zhu
World No. 2 Sabalenka was a bit sloppy on her service in the first game of the match as the Belarusian missed out on a game point before Zhu converted her third break point to start the match with a break. After breaking Sabalenka, Zhu had 30-0 in her service games but then lost the…
