Novak Djokovic beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie in four sets on Friday to became the oldest man to reach the US Open last 16 since Jimmy Connors in 1991.
Sabalenka’s decisive second set victory was capped by her 18th consecutive tie-break win.
The victory was also sweet revenge for Sabalenka, who suffered an upset defeat to then teenager Fernandez in the semi-finals of the 2021 U.S. Open.
“I wanted this revenge badly,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “It was a tough lesson for me back then. Since then, we never played again. I just wanted to prove to myself that the lesson was learned and that I developed as a player and I could get this win.”
Sabalenka attributes her dominance of tie-breaks this season to a tougher mental approach.
“I definitely think that mentally I’m pretty strong, and I’m still growing, because I’m learning a lot of lessons, and all of those lessons making me tougher, tougher, and tougher,” she said.
