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Former champion Aryna Sabalenka ended 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva's 16-match winning streak in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. winning their fourth-round match in straight sets.
The No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka ended wild card Andreeva's run with a 6-3, 6-1 win. The result puts Sabalenka, the champion here in 2021, into the last eight for the second time in her career. She has reached at least the quarterfinal stage at all seven tournaments she has contested in 2023, and her overall record now stands at 26-4. Sabalenka will face the trailblazing Mayar Sherif of Egypt in the quarterfinals. Andreeva, the youngest player ever to reach the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event, lost for the first time in a professional match this year. After winning consecutive ITF W60 events in April, the teenager upset Leylah Fernandez, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette in Madrid to take her winning streak to 16 matches, according to a report on the WTA Tour website. Meanwhile, Sherif become the first Egyptian to reach the quarterfinals after the World No.59 overcame No.24 seed Elise Mertens 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in a 2-hour, 53-minute rollercoaster. The result continues a trailblazing path for Egypt's Sherif. The 26-year-old became the first player from her country to crack the Top 100 in August 2021; to break the Top 50 in May 2022, and to win a Hologic WTA Tour title in Parma last October. Now, Sherif has become the first Egyptian ever to reach a WTA 1000 quarterfinal. In other matches, Maria Sakkari of Greece completed a rock-solid perfomance to prevail over Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. The 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova also advanced with a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(2) win over eighth seed Daria Kasatkina while Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania overpowered Liudmila Samsonova 6-4, 6-4. --IANS bsk ( 318 Words) 2023-05-01-23:28:02 (IANS)
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