Australian Open 2025: Aryna Sabalenka battles hard to beat Clara Tauson

NEW DELHI: After experiencing another bout of serving nerves, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka had to fight hard to defeat Denmark's Clara Tauson 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on Friday to advance to the second week of the Australian Open.

After a wild battle that lasted more than two hours on Rod Laver Arena, the world number one was still on course to win the Melbourne Park title for the third time in a row.

"That was a great battle," said Sabalenka.

"She played unbelievable tennis. It was really tough to play against her today.

"I'm just super happy that I was able to just stay in the game and I was able to push myself, honestly, to the limit to get this win."

World number 42 Tauson broke Sabalenka to 15 in the opening game after she wobbled terribly on her serve in her encounter against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second round.

It wasn't until the eighth game that Tauson managed to get the first service hold of the match and take a 5-3 lead since neither player was able to reach their targets consistently.

Finally holding her own delivery to love and then breaking back again, it ignited Sabalenka's life.

"I would say that conditions here are really tough to serve," said Sabalenka.

"Looking back, it was really important to get all of those breaks back. It could go either way so I'm just super happy that I was able to close this match."

At 6-5, Sabalenka wasted four set points on the Tauson serve, signaling the start of a tiebreak.

However, Sabalenka made no mistakes on her fifth set point, winning with a rasping forehand to grab the lead.

The trend was the same in the second set, with the Dane tying the score again after Sabalenka eventually solidified a break for a 4-2 lead.

At 4-4, both players came out firing, trading scorching winners until Sabalenka won the break during the match's longest game, which featured seven deuces.

Before winning the match in two hours and six minutes, Sabalenka had to save two more break points from the tenacious Tauson, who was serving for the match.

After Tauson won the crown in Auckland and Sabalenka won the Brisbane International warm-up, both players were looking to increase their 2025 winning streaks to eight games.

Ultimately, it was Sabalenka's 17th straight Melbourne triumph.

Next up is Magdalena Frech of Poland or Mirra Andreeva, a young sensation from Russia.

Sabalenka is aiming for a unique hat-trick of back-to-back Australian Open victories, which has only been accomplished by four other women in history and was last accomplished by Martina Hingis 26 years ago.