Sabalenka cruises into Indian Wells quarter-finals after downing Osaka

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Aryna Sabalenka booked her place in the Indian Wells quarter-finals as she downed former champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets on Tuesday.

Sabalenka, who is a two-time runner-up at the tournament, edged closer to another shot at glory in California with a 6-2 6-4 victory in one hour and 20 minutes.

The top seed wasted little time settling into her groove, breaking Osaka in the third game before getting the better of her opponent's serve again later on to take the early lead.

Osaka put up a much better fight in the second set, missing a break opportunity of her own in the second game, and that missed chance came back to bite her.

Sabalenka reeled off four of the last five games and sealed her progression to the last eight when Osaka's backhand return from a fierce serve landed long of the far baseline.

"For so many years, we only played once, and I'm pretty sure we’ll play many more matches," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview.

"She's coming back, playing great tennis. Of course, I'm super happy with the result, much better than last time we played."

Sabalenka strolls on against Osaka

Sabalenka is yet to drop a set on her way to the last eight at Indian Wells, and her dominant victory here ensured she kept her hopes of a first title at the tournament alive.

Since the format's introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (22) and Iga Swiatek (13) have made more WTA-1000 quarter-finals as world number one than Sabalenka (eight).

Sabalenka has also now won at least once against 105 of the 106 opponents she has faced at least twice in her career at WTA level, with Timea Bacsinszky the only player she has failed to do so against.