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Tennis: Sabalenka sets up US Open clash against doubles partner Mertens

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus hits to Nina Stojanovic of Serbia on day one of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/09/04/20210831-tennis-us-open-aryna-sabalenka.jpg"/><figcaption>Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus hits to Nina Stojanovic of Serbia on day one of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie King National Tennis Center. <em>Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NEW YORK - Second seed Aryna Sabalenka marched into the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time in three years on Friday with a 6-3 6-3 victory over American Danielle Collins to set up a clash with doubles partner Elise Mertens.</p><p>Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabalenka, seeking her maiden Grand Slam title, needed only three breaks to seal the match and had 34 winners in the contest compared to just 13 unforced errors.</p><p>&quot;She&#x27;s improved a lot since we played the last time, it was a huge battle,&quot; Sabalenka said in her on-court interview, thanking the fans who stayed beyond 1 am local time.</p><p>The match at the Louis Armstrong Stadium started close to midnight and they were set to stay for the long haul after the first three games took 19 minutes, with the second game going to deuce seven times.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/09/21/tennis-sabalenka-shocks-barty-to-win-madrid-open">Tennis: Sabalenka shocks Barty to win Madrid Open</a></li></ul><p>However, Sabalenka gained the advantage at 4-3 in the opening set when Collins made a double fault and two unforced errors before the Belarusian served out the set.</p><p>The second set went with serve until Sabalenka broke the American at 3-3 and the world number two did not look back, breaking Collins again in the final game to seal progress.</p><p>Sabalenka and Mertens won the doubles at the 2019 U.S. Open as well as the Australian Open this year before the Belarusian decided to play fewer doubles matches and focus on her singles career. They last played together at last month&#x27;s Canadian Open. (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1632827" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka marched into the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time in three years on Friday.