Aryna Sabalenka showed again how high her ceiling can be in a decisive win over countrywoman Victoria Azarenka in Montreal

MATCH POINT: Sabalenka defeats Azarenka, 6-2, 6-4.

As Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka waited for the coin toss before their quarterfinal on Friday in Montreal, they each loosened up their arms and flipped their racquets around in exactly the same way. These two aren’t twins, or even close in age; Azarenka is 32, Sabalenka 23. But in other ways the similarities are obvious. They were both born in Minsk, Belarus; they’re both 6’0”; and they both punctuate each swing with a long and loud grunt. A decade ago, Azarenka was one of the pioneers in that department, but Sabalenka has taken it to a whole new decibel level.

Sometimes all you need is to see one player from your country succeed at the sport’s highest level to believe you can do it, too. And maybe even do it better. Azarenka is still the only Belarusian to win Grand Slam singles titles and reach No. 1, but Sabalenka seems to be getting closer to both of those milestone achievements every time she takes the court. And today, she showed her superiority over her countrywoman—and just how high her ceiling could be—in a decisive 6-2, 6-4 win in 79 minutes.

Sabalenka jumped on Azarenka right away, breaking her serve in the opening game and hitting the first seven winners of the match. She followed up her first serves with forehand winners, and powered her returns past Azarenka when she got a look at a second ball. By the start of the second set, Sabalenka led in the winner department, 19-5. Azarenka made relatively few errors, but in this case that wasn’t a positive statistic; it just showed how little she was able to influence the run of play.

Still, while Sabalenka was the more powerful physical force, Azarenka still had her head, and her heart, and she made the most of both in the second set. She started to read Sabalenka’s serve, and send it back with interest. She started to win points with her own serve, and keep Sabalenka pinned farther back in the court. She broke in the opening game, held at love for 2-0, and held at love again for 4-2 with a teasing topspin lob winner that seemed to hang in the air for half a minute before touching down inside the line. The day before Azarenka had essentially willed, and fist-pumped, her way to victory against Maria Sakkari. Why couldn’t she do it again?

Because as strong as Sakkari is, Sabalenka is stronger. The younger woman found her serve again mid-way through the second set, kept herself in touch on the scoreboard, and eventually re-gained control of the rallies. Sabalenka broke for 4-4, hit two service winners to hold for 5-4, and broke again for the match. As big as she hit the ball down the stretch, the key shot was a forehand drop that she threw in, and that Azarenka couldn’t do anything with, at 30-30 in the final game. Then, at match point, Sabalenka, her confidence flowing again, knocked off one more backhand winner for the victory.

As loud as she can be on court, Sabalenka has quietly made herself into a consistent contender at virtually every tournament she enters in 2021. She was a couple of games from the Wimbledon final last month, and it will take a special effort to derail her at the US Open next month. But today Sabalenka sounded a little wary of what can happen when you feel start to feel like you’re on a roll. Asked if anyone could stop her in Montreal, she paused, laughed, and said, “That can be tricky sometimes; everyone can stop everyone. I’m just going to focus on my game, do the best I can in each one.”

In other words, she doesn’t want to get ahead of herself. That will be a good mindset to have in the semifinals, where she could face the player who stopped her at Wimbledon, Karolina Pliskova.