Sabalenka defeats Cirstea to march on to Brisbane quarterfinals

Aryna Sabalenka doesn’t often enter a match with a losing record against an opponent on hard courts, but that was the case as she prepared to face Sorana Cirstea in the Brisbane International third round.

Brisbane: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The sample size was small -- they had met just once previously on the surface on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, a straight-sets win for Cirstea in Miami in 2023 -- but Sabalenka got her payback Thursday, defeating the Romanian 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 18 minutes in front of a packed Pat Rafter Arena.

The only problem: Sabalenka doesn’t remember that match. Or perhaps she blocked it out.

“Probably, it’s for good [reason]," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "She’s an incredible player, always pushing me really hard. Especially in the second set, it was really great from her.

“I’m super happy I was able to close this match in straight sets. I was just trying to focus on my game, on going into this match and the things I have to do to get the win.”

The victory wasn't as quick as her 48-minute win over Cristina Bucsa in the second round, but Sabalenka again looked in full control.

She opened with a break, finishing the game with a backhand winner down the line, but the 35-year-old Cirstea responded immediately and leveled the match after two games. The set stayed on serve through 2-all before Sabalenka broke at love for a 3-2 lead.

Despite Cirstea’s resistance, Sabalenka would go on to convert her fourth set point to secure a third break and take the opening set.

As in the first set, Sabalenka again led 4-3 in the second and earned three break points to allow herself to all but seal the match. Cirstea remained vigilant, saving them by rattling off four straight points, but Sabalenka answered with a three-point burst of her own to finally break and move within a game of victory.

Cirstea made one last push with a break point in the next game, but Sabalenka held firm and won the final three points to close out the match.

The stats told the story: Sabalenka won just under 80% of her first-serve points and kept the ball in the court, finishing with 31 winners to just 15 unforced errors. She converted 4-of-13 break points -- not the most efficient rate -- but faced only two on her own serve.

It was still a strong week for Cirstea, who announced before the season that this would be her final year on tour. She posted straight-sets wins over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round and No. 14 seed Jelena Ostapenko in the second round before falling to the World No. 1.

Sabalenka advances to the quarterfinals, where she’ll face No. 5 seed Madison Keys in a rematch of last year's Australian Open final.