Clara Tauson defeats world number 1 Sabalenka in round 16

World number one Aryna Sabalenka exited the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday night following a 3-6, 2-6 defeat to unseeded Clara Tauson of Denmark.

The Belarusian was far from the only top seed to fall too, with reigning champion Jasmine Paolini, world number 5 Jessica Pegula, and world number 9 Emma Navarro all crashing out to unseeded opponents.

Tauson, the world number 38, claimed the biggest scalp though, with her emphatic win against three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka seeing the 22-year-old progress to a WTA 1000 quarter final for the first time in her career. Sabalenka, in contrast, has now failed to reach the last eight in Dubai from six of her nine attempts.

Dominating the Belarusian for close to an hour and a half, Tauson served seven aces, broke her opponent’s serve six times, and resolutely held the lead from as early as the third game. The Dane’s victory came just a month after suffering a third-round loss to Sabalenka at the Australian Open.

The biggest win of her career! 👏

Clara Tauson defeats the World No.1 Sabalenka in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 and is into the final eight! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/WLafeLq8MM

— wta (@WTA) February 19, 2025