World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka sails into Last 16 tie against Amanda Anisimova at French Open

Aryna Sabalenka has maintained her status as the out and out favourite currently for the 2025 French Open title and is into the Last 16 quite comfortably. She saw off Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3.

It is a third consecutive Roland Garros last 16 for the World No.1 who managed to live up to the task in hand quite handily. Danilovic was remarked prior as a bit of a big stage player but one perhaps that doesn't have the tools to buzz a player like Sabalenka.

That was the case as on the biggest stage of all at Roland Garros, Sabalenka lived up to her billing with a pretty comfortable win.

The first set in particular saw Sabalenka chop Danilovic's wings as she eased into a 5-0 lead. But she struggled to close out the set as the Serbian found a way to confound and frustrate her. But she won it 6-2 in the end. The second saw a bit more of a close knit affair as Sabalenka was broken with Danilovic making it 3-3. But Sabalenka found as second gear and eased to victory from there.

She remarked also afterwards about how her on court persona differs to off-court with Sabalenka having a fierceness about herself on it and off it being jovial and joking which she said was important.

“When I’m on court I’m a completely different person. I’m very aggressive. Very focused. Here it’s not about jokes. It’s about dreams. I give my all on court. Off court it’s very important to surround yourself with the right people and have fun with your crew. I’m really grateful for each of them. We are like family.”

She will need to be at her best though next up. It will be Amanda Anisimova who has been a bit of a nemesis in the past. The American has mustered a 5-2 Head to Head record and up to last year when it was 1-1 was 4-1 up on her. They shared meetings in 2024.

She saw off Clara Tauson and in reality clay despite being American is her best surface as a former semi-finalist in this tournament. So Sabalenka likely faces her biggest test.

Anisimova finished shortly before Sabalenka and looked formidable against Tauson. Iga Swiatek on the other side will likely face Elena Rybakina or Jelena Ostapenko so if either fall in their arguably biggest tests next, it will be an even more open affair.

Match Statistics Sabalenka vs. Danilovic