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Aryna Sabalenka threw her hands into the air, clapped them together and then punched the sky. “I’m really happy right now,” she said, “and mostly really happy that I made only 10 double-faults.”
She was laughing, the crowd was laughing and cheering. Marketa Vondrousova was probably doing neither, having lost the third-round showdown despite starting the stronger. The No 31 seed had taken the opening set, just as Sabalenka’s previous two Australian Open opponents had done. In much the same manner as those matches, the world No 2 had closed out the contest with ease.