Aryna Sabalenka has expressed hope that the French Open organisers will schedule more women's matches in the night session after her impressive victory over Naomi Osaka. The fourth-round clash marked only the fifth time a women's match has been played in the night slot since the session was introduced in 2021, ending a run of 33 consecutive men's contests.
Sabalenka, the top seed, defeated four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 27 minutes. The Belarusian said: 'I think it's really important that they put our match today as a night session. I think that's the right move. The atmosphere and the attention that this match brought is going to show them that probably for the future they should consider putting at least sometimes women matches at night.'
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo had previously cited concerns over the length of women's matches and value for ticket-holders as reasons for not scheduling them in the night session. However, she acknowledged that the Sabalenka-Osaka match was 'the best match of the day' and 'obvious' for the night slot. Sabalenka's victory means she has reached at least the quarter-finals in her last 14 major tournaments.
Osaka, who was playing her best French Open run, said of the night match: 'I thought it was really cool. Obviously she's really good for tennis. I would hope I'm OK for tennis, too. It was really fun to play.' She added that she did not feel extra pressure, stating: 'If I was on court 27, I wouldn't want to be beaten that fast either.'
Sabalenka will next face Russia's Diana Shnaider, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final by defeating Madison Keys. Other quarter-final matches include Anna Kalinskaya against Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, who guaranteed herself at least 470,000 euros (£406,000) after winning her fourth-round match.
