Sabalenka advances to US Open quarterfinals

World number one Aryna Sabalenka is through to the US Open quarterfinals after a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Taylor Townsend. The defending champion will next face either sixth seed Linda Noskova or 11th seed Marta Kostyuk.

Sabalenka described Townsend as a "really good player and focused," adding that she is hard to play, especially in New York. The top seed thanked the crowd for respecting her opponent. She stated her intention was to play not only point by point but ball by ball.

The match against Townsend

The first set featured multiple service breaks. Sabalenka broke Townsend's serve early, but the American broke back twice. Sabalenka ultimately secured the set 6-4. In the second set, Townsend broke for a 3-1 lead, but Sabalenka immediately broke back. The champion then broke again to lead 4-3 and closed out the match.

Commentary noted that Townsend charged the net whenever possible, daring Sabalenka to pass her. Sabalenka acknowledged she did not make the match easy for herself and said she will need to play better in the next round.

Ongoing fourth-round clash

On Louis Armstrong Stadium, the fourth-round match between Linda Noskova and Marta Kostyuk was underway. Noskova, the sixth seed and Wimbledon champion, took the first set 7-5. The set was closely contested, with Noskova breaking Kostyuk's serve three times.

The second set was level at 2-2 in the live reporting. Kostyuk held her serve to 15 to win the first game of the set, hitting her first ace of the match. Noskova then held her own service game comfortably.

Sky Sports commentators suggested the sun may have affected Noskova's sight during one poor overhead shot in the first set. The shadow was reported to be covering almost half of the Louis Armstrong Stadium court.

Other results and notes

In men's doubles, the team of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Matteo Arnaldi and Jan-Lennard Struff. They will next face either the pair of Lammons and Withrow or Cabral and Tracy.

The live blog also referenced comments from Madison Keys following her earlier defeat. Keys, who lost after holding a 5-0 final-set lead against Qinwen Zheng, spoke of her struggles. "I feel like I got off to a really good lead and then I just got really scared," she said. "Tennis just feels really hard right now." She indicated a need to make changes, stating the issue had been building for a while.

Next on Arthur Ashe Stadium, scheduled to begin in 56 minutes from the time of the report, is a men's singles match between Tommy Paul, the 20th seed, and second seed Carlos Alcaraz.