Inconsistent Sabalenka advances to the fourth round at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka overcame several bouts of inconsistent play Friday to beat Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and advance to the fourth round at the Australian Open.

Sabalenka, chasing her third Australian Open title in four years, led 6-5 and 40-0 in the opening set but Potapova saved all three set points to send it to a tiebreaker. Sabalenka led 3-0 in the tiebreaker before Potapova leveled at 3-3.

Sabalenka held two more set points and clinched the set when she laced a backhand down the line off Potapova’s second serve.

After trailing 4-0 in the second set, Potapova rallied to tie it 4-4 and again force a tiebreaker. Potapova had three set points to win the set in the tiebreaker, but Sabalenka rallied when the pressure was on.

“She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said of Potapova in her on-court TV interview. “I was always on the back foot. There are days where you just have to fight and . . . it was such a fight.”

Sabalenka won the Australian Open title in 2023 and 2024 and was the runner-up a year ago to Madison Keys. Sabalenka has also won the U.S. Open twice.

In other women's matches, No. 17 Victoria Mboko defeated 14th-seeded Clara Tauson 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3.

On the men's side, No. 11 Daniil Medvedev rallied from two sets down to beat Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, 6-3. Medvedev is the 2021 U.S. Open champion.

Also, No. 19 Tommy Paul of the United States beat Alejandro Davidovich when Davidovich retired after dropping the first two sets 6-1, 6-1.

And 25th-seeded Learner Tien of the United States defeated Nuno Borges 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-2. Tien will play Medvedev in the fourth round.

In later matches on Friday, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz played Corentin Moutet, and third-seeded Coco Gauff played fellow American Hailey Baptiste.

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