No ritual, no problem: Sabalenka fights her way to the third round

It was a good sign when she got back on serve.

Four times Tauson faced a set point at 5-6. Four times she found a first serve to force the tiebreak, but still she was unable to stop the momentum against her.

“It’s hard relationships. When we took those breaks, it wasn’t like disappointment or anything, it was just like keep pushing, keep doing your best, and yeah, I came back,” she said.

“It was really important to get all those breaks back. It could have gone either way and I’m just super happy that I was able to close out this fight and be in the fourth round.

“I played this match and thought ‘wow girl, you’re really tough. So many times I thought “okay, I’m done” but I was lucky I kept pushing.”

The top seed had the wind in her sails and capitalized on the 22-year-old’s slump by letting her chances slip as she hammered home the advantage early in the second set before the world no. 42 rallied to tie the set.

Sabalenka, while below her prime, found enough when she needed it. She absorbed the pace and pulled the trigger on a forehand into the corner for the final break before closing it out for her fifth consecutive AO berth in the fourth round after two hours and six minutes for a clash against 14th seed Mirra Andreeva or 23rd seeded Magdalena Frech.

“It was a great match. She played incredible tennis,” Sabalenka said. “It was really tough to play against her today and I’m just super happy that I could just stay in the match.

“I was able to honestly push myself to the limit and try my best to put the ball back on that side and try to get this win.”