Add The New York Post on Google It was a service break-a-palooza inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.
Aryna Sabalenka and American Taylor Townsend put on a clinic in breaking serves to kick off the fourth round of the U.S. Open, as the No. 1-seeded Belarusian pulled out the victory 6-4, 6-3 in a tougher-than-it-looked match.
Of the 19 total games played between the two, 11 featured service breaks.
Both Townsend and Sabalenka struggled to hold serve throughout the match, but Sabalenka finished with an edge of seven breaks to Townsend’s four to advance to the quarterfinals for a sixth straight year.
Sabalenka will face No. 6 Linda Noskova, who edged Marta Kostyuk 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 later Sunday.
“She was returning really well. She saw where I’m going,” Sabalenka said of Townsend. “She was blocking really well. I guess playing doubles and mixed doubles really helped her to react on, like, heavy serve. Plus, I think it’s been a while since I played with the roof closed, so I feel like we both were struggling a little bit to see the ball, and that’s why the return got a little bit off.
“That was a really challenging beginning, but then I had to adjust my serve, the speed, the spin, bring the variety into my service games just so I keep her guessing. It was tricky. Tricky start of the match, for sure.”
As the back-to-back defending U.S. Open champion, the 28-year-old Sabalenka is the first player to reach six consecutive women’s singles quarterfinals in Flushing since Serena Williams (2011-16).
To put Sabalenka’s run in perspective, only five players have made more consecutive women’s singles hard-court major quarterfinals than Sabalenka in the Open Era. She’s appeared in nine since the 2022 U.S. Open, which matches Gabriela Sabatini and Lindsay Davenport.
As a result, Sabalenka extended her win streak at the U.S. Open to 18 consecutive matches.
The first-ever match between Sabalenka and Townsend didn’t disappoint.
After trading off breaks through the first five games of the first set, Sabalenka finally held her serve in the sixth game and broke Townsend again to take a 5-2 lead. Townsend refused to go quietly, however, breaking back in the following game before holding serve for the first time in the match.
“The first four games with four breaks a serve, so I mean, I felt like I was — I don’t feel. I was returning really well today,” Townsend said. “Yeah, I just think that there were a couple of times where just a couple of points rolled quickly, and then there was a point or a game where I was up 40-0, banged two aces. You know, one unforced error, you’re back to deuce.
“With someone like Aryna, who is at that level and at that caliber, you really have to take advantage of every opportunity that you have.”
Sabalenka ultimately wore down Townsend, but the 30-year-old still threatened in the second set.
After holding serve twice — with a couple of aces sprinkled in — and breaking Sabalenka in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead, Townsend allowed the world No. 1 to bulldoze right back into the match.
Townsend double-faulted to cap a fifth game that she dropped in straight points before Sabalenka powered through the remainder of the match.
The match dropped Townsend to 0-5 against top 10 players in 2026. Sabalenka, on the other hand, improved to 18-0 against players ranked outside the top 50 this season, with 17 of those victories coming in straight sets.
