1 and a four-time Grand Slam champion, reached the US Open fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kamilla Rakhimova.
Bigger stakesNo player has more Grand Slam match-wins than Sabalenka's 16 this season.
15 seed Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3 later Friday to reach the fourth round.
Asked about the prospect before Townsend’s win, Sabalenka smiled at the premise.
“She’s a great player,” Sabalenka said.
NEW YORK -- Aryna Sabalenka can still remember how far away the top of tennis once seemed.
“When I first came here, I felt like the top level was something untouchable, something impossible,” Sabalenka said Friday at the US Open. “I wish I would have had a different mindset back then.”
Her perspective has changed considerably.
Sabalenka, now the World No. 1 and a four-time Grand Slam champion, reached the US Open fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kamilla Rakhimova. The victory extended her winning streak in New York to 16 matches as she pursues a third consecutive title in Queens.
But when asked to look back at the player she was early in her career, Sabalenka did not frame her rise as inevitable.
“It’s been a long journey,” she said. “I had to work so hard to change a lot of things in my game, to add a lot of things in my game to be able to compete at the highest level.”
Sabalenka’s power has long been apparent. The work, she said, was in developing the rest of what she needed to sustain it: the decision-making, the composure and a game equipped for the demands of playing deep into the sport’s biggest tournaments.
“If someone would tell me where it would lead me in, like, I don’t know, 10 years from that period, I would be so shocked and probably super motivated, of course, to hear that,” she said.
Now, the player who once viewed the top of the game as distant has become one of its constants.
Sixteen straight in Queens
Sabalenka’s last US Open defeat came in the 2023 final, when Coco Gauff beat her in three sets. Since then, Sabalenka has won back-to-back titles in Queens, defeating Jessica Pegula in the 2024 final and Amanda Anisimova last year.
Friday’s victory made Sabalenka the first player to win 16 consecutive US Open matches since Serena Williams won 26 in a row from 2012 through 2015.
Since making her main-draw debut at the US Open in 2018, Sabalenka has collected more singles main-draw victories at the tournament than any other player. Her total now stands at 37.
The win over Rakhimova also added a few more lines to Sabalenka’s New York and Grand Slam résumé:
16: Sabalenka has now reached the fourth round at 16 consecutive Grand Slam events she has played, the first player to do so since Lindsay Davenport made the round of 16 at 20 straight majors from Wimbledon in 2000 through the 2006 US Open.
8: Since the start of 2025, Sabalenka is the only player to reach the fourth round at all eight Grand Slam events. Her only other season reaching the second week at all four majors was 2023.
2: Sabalenka is the second player since 2000 to reach the fourth round at every Grand Slam in consecutive calendar years while ranked World No. 1, after Serena Williams in 2015 and 2016.
29: Sabalenka has now won 29 US Open matches in straight sets, tying the Australian Open for her highest total at a single WTA-level event.
Bigger stakes
No player has more Grand Slam match-wins than Sabalenka's 16 this season.
She arrived in New York with another major objective in view: She must win the title to retain a chance of staying atop the PIF WTA Rankings after the tournament.
“I completely shut out the noise from outside and focus on myself,” Sabalenka said. “If I push myself every second, I know I’ll have my chances.”
Next: Townsend, and a New York crowd
Sabalenka will next face Taylor Townsend, who outlasted No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3 later Friday to reach the fourth round.
Townsend presents a different kind of problem, with the variety and net-rushing instincts that have made her one of the tournament’s most compelling players. She will also have the support of a New York crowd.
Asked about the prospect before Townsend’s win, Sabalenka smiled at the premise.
“You guys are trying to build up that tension?” she said.
Then she offered the more serious answer.
“She’s a great player,” Sabalenka said. “She’s, I’d say, a tricky player, because she brings the variety, comes to the net, really makes you think during the game. I’m pretty sure if it’s going to be her, it’s going to be a great battle.”
For now, Sabalenka has earned another week in New York.
