Sabalenka into Wimbledon quarter-finals

Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning world no. 1, defeated Elise Mertens to advance to the quarter-finals and maintain her winning streak.

The 27-year-old, who reached the semi-finals in 2021 and 2023, defeated 104-year-old Laura Siegemund 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to advance to the last four.

Sabalenka was the only top six seed remaining in the women’s draw at the time of this tournament, which saw many seeds fall.

Sabalenka has overcome a difficult match to defeat British No. 1 Emma Raducanu to prepare for her meeting with Mertens.

Even so, this time around was perhaps more difficult than anticipated, especially since Sabalenka had previously defeated 24th seed Mertens nine times in a row before meeting at Wimbledon.

“The performance was fantastic,” I said. A battle ensued. Sabalenka expressed his satisfaction with this victory.

She is a fantastic athlete and person. She is smart, and I already knew she would fight until the very end. She really put me in a challenge today.

Although Sabalenka initially had a comfortable win as she raced to a 4-1 lead, Mertens got a break as she began to move her opponent further around the court.

Sabalenka broke Mertens once more to win the opening set, but the Belgian’s aggressive tennis kept her on the hook.

When Sabalenka struggled to get her first serve to work before thumping down a backhand winner, she was rewarded for her brave play when she took advantage of it to take the match’s opening break early in the second set before holding the lead 3-1.

Two games later, Sabalenka and Mertens broke through, and the pair met in the middle all the way to a tie-break.

But Sabalenka showed that she could win and advance by coming back from 2-0 down.

Sabalenka remarked about winning Wimbledon, “Everything is possible.”

“I’m just trying to give it my best,” he said.

The oldest woman in the Wimbledon singles draw is Siegemund, 37, who will face Sabalenka next.

Solana Sierra, a veteran German, put an end to her extraordinarily successful tournament run.

Sierra only learned 15 minutes before her first-round game after losing in qualifying but being accepted into the main draw after withdrawing.

The Argentina-born 21-year-old was hoping to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, but Siegemund’s victory in round four put her in the lead.

Amanda Anisimova, the 13th seed, defeated Linda Noskova, the 30th seed, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, to end her strong grass season.

This was her 10th victory on this surface in 12 appearances in 2025, which highlights her standing as a title contender.