Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) defeated Jasmine Paolini (Italy) by 2-0 (6:4, 7:6) in a very tough match that lasted 1:39 hours but finally advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing.
The Belarusian tennis player succeeded to win the first set by 6:4 after a late break in the 10th game, but needed to save two breakpoint in the 5th game. The second set was quite more contested and passed through several turnovers, as Aryna Sabalenka took a lead by 3:1 after a break, but Jasmine Paolini made a series of 4 games in a row to reach a result of 3:5 and at 4:5 served for the set. However, the Belarusian tennis player equalized the breaks on zero. Jasmine Paolini had another chance to break and again served for the set, but Aryna Sabalenka again returned the break and thus the set entered into a tiebreak, in which the Belarusian player took the initiative from the very beginning and won by 7-4.
In the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 China Open, Aryna Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan).
In another match from the day, Maria Sakkari reached a hard victory versus Xinyu Wang (China) by 2-1 (64, 2:6, 6:3) and also advances in the tournament, facing Cori Coco Gauff (USA) in the quarter-finals.
