Roland-Garros: Sabalenka overpowers Badosa to reach fourth round

Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, beat Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the last 16 of Roland-Garros in Paris.

In a meeting of two close friends, a competitive first set gave way to a one-sided second as Sabalenka ultimately overpowered her opponent.

The pair exchanged breaks early before Badosa struck again to lead 4-2. But she could not capitalise on the lead, as the Belarusian struck back twice to clinch the opener 7-5.

That seemed to break the Spaniard’s resolve, and she succumbed to a 6-1 second-set loss as Sabalenka’s power ratcheted up, overwhelming Badosa’s defences.

Sabalenka, ranked No 2, will face the winner of the match between No 14 seed Madison Keys and No 22 seed Emma Navarro next.

The Belarusian beat Russian Erika Andreeva (6-1, 6-2) and Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima (6-2, 6-2) ahead of her victory.

In the previous rounds, Badosa, ranked No 139, edged out No 26 seed Katie Boulter (4-6, 7-5, 6-4) and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (4-6, 6-1, 7-5).

Paris (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53.478.000, most recent results first):

• Madison Keys vs. Emma Navarro
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Peyton Stearns
• Elina Svitolina vs. Ana Bogdan
• Bianca Andreescu vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Elise Mertens (25): 6-4, 6-2
• Varvara Gracheva beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 7-5, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-4, 6-2
• Ons Jabeur (8) beat Leylah Fernandez (31): 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Clara Tauson beat Sofia Kenin: 6-2, 7-5
• Marketa Vondrousova (5) beat Chloe Paquet (WC): 6-1, 6-3
• Anastasia Potapova beat Xinyu Wang: 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Dayana Yastremska (30): 6-2, 6-4
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Liudmila Samsonova (17): 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Olga Danilovic (Q) beat Donna Vekic: 0-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8)