Sabalenka downs Pegula for the Rome Masters quarterfinal

Aryna Sabalenka showed up in Rome this week and she is playing superb tennis so far, taking down Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-4.

Pegula arrived in Rome quite tired after a very long stay in Madrid but the American advanced to the 3rd round thanks to a walkover. That gave her some time to rest but it still wasn't enough for a very aggressive and determine Sabalenka. The American never defeated her opponent on clay and both wins by Sabalenka have been convincing.

This one as well as the Belarussian stormed past the American in the first set 6-1. Pegula won only 5 points on her serve the entire set and it was just a thrashing by the Belarussian. Things did not change much in the 2nd set as Sabalenka continued to dominate play. She had enough time to set up her devastating groundstrokes and Pegula had no answer.

Sabalenka was up 5-2 in the 2nd set but complicated things as she sometimes tends to do by losing her serve at 5-4 when she served for the match. Pegula had a tiny chance to get back into the match with a 30-15 lead but Sabalenka was determined not to let that happen and she finished it off with 6-4. She moves on to the quarterfinal.