Sabalenka battles past 'incredible' Potapova to advance at Aussie Open

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 US Open twice.

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

Third-seeded Coco Gauff played fellow American Hailey Baptiste later Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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