Aryna Sabalenka joins Serena Williams on elite list with latest win at Roland Garros
Aryna Sabalenka breezed through to the Roland Garros fourth round with a convincing straight sets victory against Daria Kasatkina in Paris.
The World No. 1 won 6-0, 7-5 against the Australian star to confirm a fourth round match with Naomi Osaka at the Paris Grand Slam.
Sabalenka is yet to drop a set in matches against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Elsa Jacquemot, and now Kasatkina, and she is one of the clear favourites to lift the title.
After her victory against Kasatkina, Sabalenka has reached a WTA Tour milestone that only eight other players in tennis history have managed.
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The 28-year-old has become the ninth player to earn 100 victories as the World No. 1 thanks to her victory against Kasatkina on Suzanne-Lenglen.
Sabalenka joins Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Iga Swiatek and Justine Henin, according to OptaAce.
The star has spent 80 consecutive weeks at World No. 1 after first reaching the summit of the WTA Tour back in October 21, 2024. Since, she has fended off the likes of Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, the latter of which could have become World No. 1 at Roland Garros.
Rybakina’s shock second round defeat to Yuliia Starodubtseva in Paris nixed that and now Sabalenka has the chance to extend her lead at the top.
Next up for Sabalenka is Naomi Osaka, who have already been great rivals throughout the 2026 season. They have met on two occasions, which have both gone the way of the World No. 1.
Sabalenka knocked Osaka out of Indian Wells and the Madrid Open, the latter of which was much closer than the former. Osaka took the first set off Sabalenka at the Spanish tournament, before the World No. 1 fought back to win the round of 16 tie.
Osaka’s only victory against Sabalenka came all the way back in 2018, when the Japanese star beat the Belarusian in the round of 16 at the 2018 US Open.
Osaka defeated Sabalenka in three sets and that tournament will hold fond memories for the star as she would go on to lift the trophy at Flushing Meadows.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, is looking to win the first Roland Garros title of her career. Her best effort came in 2025, when she lost the final in Paris.
The World No. 1 was defeated by Coco Gauff, who stunned Sabalenka in very windy conditions. The American won 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–4 to confirm the first Roland Garros title of her career.
Sabalenka and Gauff are in the same half of the draw for this year’s event and they could meet in the semi-finals of the competition for a re-match.
