Tennis-Sabalenka fights past Townsend into US Open quarters

Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - September 6, 2026 Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka in action during her round of 16 match against Taylor Townsend of the U.S. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

NEW YORK, ⁠Sept 6 (Reuters) - Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka subdued American Taylor ⁠Townsend 6-4 6-3 on Sunday to reach the U.S. ‌Open quarter-finals without dropping a set.

The world number one had endured a frustrating build-up to the year’s final major but has hit her stride at Flushing ​Meadows and she slammed her foot on ⁠the gas in the ⁠second set against the home-crowd favourite, sealing victory with a backhand ⁠winner.

She ‌will next play either Ukrainian 11th seed MartaKostyuk or the Czech Republic's Wimbledon champion LindaNoskova.

"What an incredible player ⁠she is approaching the net, what a great ​returner," said Sabalenka. "Very ‌brave, you can see how focused she was. It was ⁠really challenging ​playing her, especially here."

Any expectation of a one-sided contest between the top-ranked Sabalenka and world number 96 Townsend quickly disappeared as they traded ⁠two breaks apiece in the opening ​four games at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sabalenka broke again in the seventh game, firing a forehand winner to seize the advantage, but Townsend responded ⁠immediately by breaking to love.

The Belarusian held firm when it mattered, however, saving a break point with an unreturnable serve before closing out the opening set in the 10th game.

Townsend tamed ​Sabalenka's fearsome serve to move 3-1 up ⁠in the second set but a double fault handed the break ​straight back and shifted the momentum decisively.

Sabalenka ‌then sprinted through the final four ​games to book her spot in the last eight.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)

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网球——美国网球公开赛——美国纽约法拉盛草地——2026年9月6日，白俄罗斯选手阿丽娜·萨巴伦卡在与美国选手泰勒·汤森的16强赛中比赛。（路透社/爱德华多·穆尼奥斯摄）

纽约，9 月 6 日（路透社）——卫冕冠军阿丽娜·萨巴伦卡周日以 6-4 6-3 击败美国选手泰勒·汤森德，未失一盘晋级美国网球公开赛四分之一决赛。

世界排名第一的选手在今年最后一场大满贯赛事之前经历了一段令人沮丧的备战期，但她在法拉盛草地网球场找到了状态，并在对阵主场观众最喜欢的选手的第二盘比赛中全力以赴，以一记反手制胜分锁定胜局。

她下一轮的对手将是乌克兰11号种子选手玛尔塔·科斯秋克，或是捷克温布尔登冠军琳达·诺斯科娃。

萨巴伦卡说：“她上网真是太棒了，接发球也非常出色。她非常勇敢，你可以看出她非常专注。和她比赛真的很有挑战性，尤其是在这里。”

世界排名第一的萨巴伦卡和世界排名第 96 位的汤森德之间的比赛原本预计会是一边倒的局面，但随着两人在阿瑟·阿什球场的前四局比赛中各自破发两次，这种预期很快就破灭了。

萨巴伦卡在第七局再次破发，以一记正手制胜分取得优势，但汤森德立即做出回应，以love game破发。

然而，白俄罗斯选手在关键时刻稳住了阵脚，凭借一记无法回击的发球挽救了一个破发点，并在第 10 局结束了第一盘的比赛。

汤森德在第二盘中压制住了萨巴伦卡的可怕发球，以 3-1 领先，但一次双误让对手立即破发，并彻底扭转了比赛的势头。

萨巴伦卡随后一路高歌猛进，赢得了最后四场比赛，成功晋级八强。

（纽约 Amy Tennery 报道，Toby Davis 编辑）

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