No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won a fierce battle of 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Sunday at Elise Mertens, who won two Grand Slam Doubles titles to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
Sabalenka now has achieved the quarterfinals of the last 11 majors in which she appeared (she missed Wimbledon in 2024 due to a shoulder injury). Since its inception in 2000, the women’s side have had a long streak that has made 16 straight major quarter final appearances from 2000 to 2005.
Sabalenka took part in the match on Center Court, beating Mertens 10 times in the most meetings for WTA Tour players.
However, Mertens fought to level the first set at 4-ALL, securing a break from the winner of Searing Backhand Crosscourt and claiming the opening set before Sabalenka recovered.
The second set went on to a tiebreak. There, Sabalenka was almost invincible in 2025 and has not been lost in Doha since February. She improved to 16-1 in a tiebreak this year, which secured her spot in the quarterfinals.
“I’m very pleased with the performance,” said Sabalenka, who hasn’t dropped the set for the tournament yet. “It was a fight. She’s always brought great tennis to the court and I’m happy I got this victory. It’s hard to play someone you’re pretty close. She’s a great player and a great person.
“It’s hard to face her… I know she’ll fight to the end and she’ll be trying to find something. She really challenged me today.”
Sabalenka will then play Laura Siegemund, a 37-year-old German who defeated lucky loser Solana Sierra 6-3, 6-2 to follow the elimination of Australia’s open champion Madison Keys.
“With your support, guys, I think everything is possible,” Sabalenka said.
Siegemund became the oldest woman to reach her first career in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
When her age was mentioned in an on-court interview, the crowd applauded, and Siegemund joked: “It’s not that you get such a compliment for getting older.”
Siegemund said she is heading into the match with a riskless approach with Sabalenka as she is about to reach the first major semi-finals.
“She’s one of the greatest players we have and one of the most offensive players,” Siegemund told reporters. “The only good thing about that match is that I definitely have nothing to lose, but it’s definitely one of the toughest enemies on the grass.”
Siegemund admitted to enjoying rewards at Wimbledon in a transition from her usual routine of performing warm-up events in Nottingham and Bad Homburg, shortening grass court season after a long clay swing.
“I always started to feel the game on the grass and I felt it was already over until I started playing better. “We played more games this time, but there was more opportunity to gain this confidence.
ESPN research, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
