Sabalenka ‘to keep pushing’ after powering into French Open quarters

PARIS – Aryna Sabalenka defeated American 22nd seed Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3 to reach her seventh straight Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open on Monday.
Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, beat 36 champions before the unbeaten Navarro to avenge her 23-year defeat at Indian Wells in March.
Second seed Sabalenka, a semi-finalist at Paris 2023, will face France’s Varvara Gracheva or 17-year-old Mirra Andreia of Russia in the last four.
“Honestly, it seems crazy to me and I’m very happy to be able to take this streak to the Grand Slam,” said Sabalenka.
“It’s amazing. It just, yeah, motivates me to push harder and see where the limit is.”
Sabalenka has reached at least the semifinals in the last six Grand Slams and is expected to be Iga Swiatek’s strongest challenge in the hunt for a fourth French Open title.
Her victory over Navarro marks the third time in the past decade that a female seed has reached the top five at Roland Garros. Two other incidents happened in 1996 and 2013.
After a first week plagued by damp and wet conditions, Sabalenka had no problem backing down due to the appearance of the sun at Roland Garros and the need for a roof that is often used on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Sabalenka said: “I feel very confident in all conditions, like playing good tennis when it’s cold.
“It’s hot with any situation. It doesn’t matter what the situation is now,” I said.
Sabalenka remains in a title fight with world number one Swiatek, who is trying to lift the Suzanne Lenglen trophy for the third consecutive year.
Sviatek of Belarus was impressed by Anastasia Potopova’s 40-minute collapse in the last 16 match on Sunday, but said she did not want to compare it to that performance.
“I really watched that match and I was like, wow, this is another strong level, and I was really upset with Anastasia because she was good against Iga,” Sabalenka said.
“I stopped even thinking about trying to do that because you can get really crazy with that. I was like, Aryna. Just take care of yourself.
“You can’t do better than that. Good. This world is like this park. That’s the thing about Iga. Just leave it to him. I’ll be better than my opponent.”