In only their second tour-level meeting, Aliaksandra Sasnovich defeated Daria Gavrilova, the 26th seed, 6-3 6-1 to secure a spot in the fourth round at the Wimbledon Championships. They last met in 2017 on the dirt at the Italian Open where Gavrilova won in three. The twenty-four-year-old from Belarus had never made it past the third round at a grand slam tournament while her best finish at the All England Club was in 2016 when she reached the second round.

Gavrilova, also twenty-four years of age, is quite a competitor but at times her fiery temperament is a huge liability. The Australian native of Russian descent was extremely impatient throughout the course of the match while Sasnovich was all business and for most of the match, dictated play.

While Sasnovich made a handful of errors off the forehand side, her two-handed backhand, particularly down the line, was consistently lethal and earned her a multitude of break points. In addition to her steady play from the baseline, she often ventured to the net, hitting numerous slice backhand drop volley winners.

In the opening set, Gavrilova served first and held. Sasnovich was tested early facing two break points in her opening service game but managed to hold with an exquisite drop shot winner. In the following game, Sasnovich hit a magnificent backhand down the line to earn a break point which she converted when Gavrilova hit long.

With a monstrous forehand winner, Sasnovich held for 3-1. Gavrilova held for 2-3 despite a double fault. In the next game, Sasnovich was broken following a host of unforced errors, including a double fault.

Back on serve at 3-3, Gavrilova was unable to consolidate the break and was broken following a remarkable cross-court backhand winner by Sasnovich and two double faults, one of which gave her opponent the game.

Sasnovich consolidated the break and held for 5-3. Gavrilova opened the 9th game of the set with another double fault and following a superb cross-court forehand winner by Sasnovich, faced triple break and set points.

Serving to stay in the first set, Gavrilova managed to save three set points with outstanding groundstrokes and an unreturnable serve up the tee but ultimately was broken following another extraordinary backhand slice drop volley by Sasnovich to earn the break and the first set.

Sasnovich opened the second set and held while Gavrilova was broken following two forehand errors, a missed overhead and her 7th double fault.

Sasnovich serving at 2-0 faced double break point following a string of unforced errors including a double fault. With an errant forehand, Gavrilova converted the break point and served at 1-2.

The Australian was unable to consolidate the break and was broken following an intense and highly entertaining eight minute game in which she served three double faults.

Sasnovich produced another exceptional cross-court backhand winner to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set. In the following game, with another backhand slice drop shot winner, Aliaksandra Sasnovich earned a break point which she converted with a blistering cross-court backhand winner for 5-1.

Without any hesitation, Sasnovich struck a scintillating forehand winner and served most impressively to hold at love to take the set and the match in one hour, sixteen minutes.

Sometimes statistics are misleading but, in this case, they were spot on. Sasnovich served impeccably with 75% first serves in, winning 62% on first and second serve points. Gavrilova served poorly winning just 53% on first serve and an abysmal 31% on second serve points. While she hit two aces, the ten double faults buried the Australian as she was broken six times in two sets.

Although she is currently ranked #50 on the WTA tour, Sasnovich competes with the confidence of a top fifteen player. Having beaten two lefties in the first two rounds including the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, she will now face her second consecutive right-handed player in the fourth round-Jelena Ostapenko, the #12 seed.

The twenty-one-year-old, hard-hitting superstar from Latvia and 2017 French Open champion, leads their head to head 2-0. Their last match played last season in the first round at Wimbledon went three. Although Ostapenko won both matches, it is a safe bet that she is preparing to do battle as they compete for a coveted spot in the quarterfinals.