6-0, 6-0: Aryna Sabalenka clinches first Grand Slam double bagel at 2024 Australian Open

Anyone in the mood for bagels? 🥯

Aryna Sabalenka served two to kick off action on Day 6 of the 2024 Australian Open, sealing No. 28 seed Lesia Tsurenko, 6-0, 6-0, in 52 minutes flat.

“Last year, Iga won so many 6-0 sets, that this is one of the goals, to get closer to her,” explained Sabalenka, citing world No. 1 Iga Swiatek as an inspiration behind her dominant form. “I’m actually super happy with the level so far.

“Hopefully I can keep going like that or even better!”

The defending champion, who last double-bageled an opponent at a minor-league ITF Pro Circuit event in 2015 as No. 710-ranked teenager, came within one game of her first double bagel on the pro level earlier this week when she won the first 11 games against German qualifier Ella Seidel.

Seidel saved two match points down 0-6, 0-5 to hold off the world No. 2, but Tsurenko was not so lucky, failing to convert a both break point in the opening game and a 40-15 lead in the second game of the second set to bow out to the Belarusian in under an hour.

Sabalenka enters the second week of the Australian Open having won three 6-0 sets out of six played, and extends her winning streak in Melbourn to 10 in a row as she books a fourth-round clash with American rival Amanda Anisimova.

A former world No. 21, Anisimova is back on tour after taking a hiatus from the sport in 2023, and is similarly yet to drop a set Down Under after defeating No. 13 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the first round and former world No. 2 Paula Badosa on Friday.

“She’s an incredible player,” Sabalenka said on court after the match. “I’m happy to see her back in tennis. We played a lot of matches, always tough battles. So, I’m looking forward to a great fight.”

Anisimova long had Sabalenka’s number earlier in their rivalry, winning their first four matches—including at back-to-back Grand Slam tournaments at the 2019 Australian Open and Roland Garros—before Sabalenka scored her first win over Anisimova at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia from a set down in 2022.

Will there be more bagels on the menu on Sunday, and who will be serving them?