Madrid Open: Sabalenka eases past Stearns to book spot in last eight

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, beat American Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the last eight of the Madrid Open at the Caja Mágica.

Sabalenka, ranked No 1, will play the winner of the match between Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 24 seed, and Russian Anastasia Potapova next.

Earlier in the tournament, the Belarusian won against Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova (6-3, 6-4) and Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 28 seed (3-6, 6-2, 6-1).

Stearns, ranked No 44, won against Australian Kimberly Birrell (5-7, 6-3, 6-4), No 15 seed Amanda Anisimova (6-2, 2-6, 7-5) and Swiss qualifier Rebeka Masarova (6-2, 6-0) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other last-16 results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 7.854.000, most recent results first):

• Marta Kostyuk vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Moyuka Uchijima beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (21): 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Elina Svitolina (17) beat Maria Sakkari: 6-3, 6-4
• Madison Keys (5) beat Donna Vekic (19): 6-2, 6-3
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Diana Shnaider (13): 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Belinda Bencic: 6-4, 6-2
• Mirra Andreeva (7) beat Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q): 6-1, 6-4