Aryna Sabalenka is through to the round of 16 at the French Open after beating her good friend Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-1. The meeting lasted nearly an hour and 20 minutes.
Sabalenka, ranked number 2 in the scheme, had difficulties only in the opening set. In it, Badosa took a 5-3 lead and served for the first set, but collapsed and lost the next four games, and thus the set. This seemed to totally discourage the Spaniard, who took only one game in the second set.
Sabalenka made two more unforced errors, but also finished with almost twice as many winners as Badossa - 28 to 15. In a dispute for a place in the 1/4-finals, the Australian Open champion will play an American - the winner of the match between Madison Keys (14 ) and Emma Navarro (22).
Elena Rybakina - ranked number 4, and Varvara Gracheva also qualified for the round of 16 in the lower half of the scheme. I BGNES
