Sabalenka’s signature move sparking success
ARYNA SABALENKA became the youngest woman to reach six consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals with a signature win yesterday — after keeping up her superstition of signing the bald head of her fitness trainer Jason Stacy before each match. Amelie Mauresmo was the last woman to achieve this feat, in 2005 at the age of 25, and Sabalenka, two months younger, won 6-3, 6-2 in 70 minutes against Amanda Anisimova on Margaret Court Arena yesterday. ‘We just like to do weird s***!’ said the defending champion and second seed about her pre-match ritual. ‘Somehow I decided to start drawing my signature on his head. I did it before the first match. Now it’s a routine. ‘He’s not super happy that I’m going to do that but he’s like, “OK, anything for the win”. It’s a cool spot, no?’ Sabalenka will face Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova next and is on a collision course with Coco Gauff in the semi-finals if the American fourth seed can see off Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. Gauff, 19, won 6-1, 6-2 in 63 minutes against Magdalena Frech of Poland yesterday to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne for the first time. Last year’s US Open champion doesn’t turn 20 until March, but she said of her age: ‘Sometimes I forget. I know I’m not going to be a teenager any more, but I feel like I’ve lived so many lives the last four years, that I feel older than 19. I definitely do forget my age.’
The exciting Mirra Andreeva, who beat Ons Jabeur in the second round, was beaten in a three-set battle with Krejcikova. The 16-year-old Andreeva took the first set but ultimately lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to the Czech. There are junior players already looking up to Andreeva, who was modest in saying: ‘I don’t think that I can give any advice yet. I’m not a star or something like this.’