Sabalenka sees off Kasatkina to reach French Open fourth round
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PARIS, May 30 : Aryna Sabalenka cut through the French Open chaos as the world number one beat Australia's Daria Kasatkina 6-0 7-5 on Saturday to seal her place in the fourth round after seismic upsets in the previous two days at Roland Garros.
With top seed Jannik Sinner and 24-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic exiting in the last 48 hours, Sabalenka restored order with a commanding display to book a tantalising meeting with Japan's Naomi Osaka.
Sabalenka wasted little time to get going on a sun-drenched Court Suzanne Lenglen, winning the opening five games with a mix of power from the baseline and precision at the net, before she fought from 15-40 down in the next to secure a bagel.
Russian-born Kasatkina, who began representing her adopted country last year, broke and held against the run of play in the second set to draw chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" and those voices soon became a lot quieter.
An unforced error from Kasatkina allowed Sabalenka to draw level at 2-2, and the four-times Grand Slam champion stayed in touch before dialling up the intensity late on to complete her eighth victory in 10 meetings between the pair.
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