Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka delivered nine aces and advanced to the round of 16 of Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Friday at the All England Club in London.

The World No. 1 from Belarus hit 19 winners while advancing to the second week of a Grand Slam event for the 15th straight time. She committed just six unforced errors.

“I’m really glad that mentally I was super strong and super focused today,” Sabalenka said of the 92-minute victory. “I’m happy that I closed this match in straight sets.”

Sabalenka next faces No. 14 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan. Osaka cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina of Australia.

Osaka had 25 winners against 13 unforced errors while dispatching Kasatkina in just 65 minutes to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time.

Sabalenka is 3-1 all-time against Osaka, with all three victories coming this season.

Sabalenka won in straight sets in the round of 16 on the hard court at Indian Wells and also was victorious twice on clay. She prevailed in three sets in the round of 16 at Madrid and in two sets in the round of 16 at the French Open.

“I think every match was very tough one,” Sabalenka said of the 2026 meetings. “In every match there was, like, few key moments of each set where I think I was able to trust my game and to step in and to put pressure on her. I feel like every time she play me, she’s more focused. She’s aware of my power and aggression and everything. I feel like every time she’s handling herself really good and handling the pressure good.

“I’m ready to go out there and to fight.”

No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula sailed into the next round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. It’s just the second time Pegula has reached the round of 16.

“I thought it was really clean,” Pegula said. “Definitely the best match I’ve had since I’ve been in the tournament. So that’s always nice. Really nice weather out today. Conditions felt good. I just kind of executed my game plan really well. Came out with good energy and was able to play a solid match.”

Pegula next faces upstart American Iva Jovic. The No. 16 seed notched a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over No. 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.

No. 7 Coco Gauff was challenged by fellow American Claire Liu before winning 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2. Gauff committed 29 errors while Liu had a whopping 57.

Gauff will next face No. 11 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Bencic outlasted No. 19 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6).

No. 10 Karolina Muchova posted a 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory over Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand. She will face 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova in an all-Czech affair. Krejcikova beat another Czech, Nikola Bartunkova 6-3, 7-5 on Friday.

–Field Level Media

Shane van Gisbergen restored his dominance on road courses Sunday and reinforced the fact that he is the greatest NASCAR road racer ever, but the stakes increase for the New Zealander during the second half of 2026.

It’s 18 races down, 18 to go this season and, to the Trackhouse Racing driver’s chagrin, there are no more curvy layouts to conquer.

While NASCAR returns to the Chicago area this weekend, drivers will not be found again on Michigan Avenue. That’s a bummer for van Gisburgen because he won two of the three races held on the Chicago Street Course.

Instead, NASCAR returns to the 1.52-mile Chicagoland Speedway, a tri-oval in southwest suburban Joliet, Ill., that has not hosted an event since Alex Bowman earned his first career victory there in 2019.

Sunday’s eero 400, a 267-lapper that breaks the stretch of consecutive road races, will be the 20th NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Three active drivers have wins there: Brad Keselowski owns two while Denny Hamlin and Bowman have one apiece.

Keselowski’s pair came with different manufacturers: Dodge in 2012 while racing for then-Penske Racing and in Ford for Team Penske two years later.

Now 42, Keselowski took the 2012 Cup title in the season he first won in Chicago, becoming the first Dodge driver to notch a title since 1975 when it was done by Richard Petty, who turned 89 on Thursday.

Currently in his 19th Cup season and fifth as part-owner of RFK Racing, the Michigan native fended off rumors that his group will become Dodge’s flagship team as the manufacturer returns to Cup in 2027.

“For those asking — RFK racing has multi-year agreement with @fordracing and a commitment from their leadership to return the program to a championship contender,” Keselowski wrote June 25 on social media. “Any speculation else-wise makes for great internet talk but, it is not based on anything real.”

The number one comes up frequently regarding Ford, the Joliet speedway and the 2012 champ.

Ford is a disappointing 1-for-18 in 2026, while the blue oval has only a lone checkered flag in 19 Chicagoland races.

Keselowski himself has just one victory in 164 RFK starts, a 2024 Darlington win.

To use a football term, he and the manufacturer will be going for two on Sunday.

In a similar vein, van Gisbergen will be going for two on Sunday. While all his eight official NASCAR wins have come on road courses, he won on an oval last July in the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

He recognizes he’ll need more success on ovals to get where he wants to go.

Last season in 30 races on tracks that were not road courses, van Gisbergen posted an average finish of 24.8. Through 14 races on similar configurations this season, he has bumped it up to 20.9 — an improvement but certainly numbers that will not make him a viable title contender.

On May 31, he scored his first top-five showing by finishing fifth in Nashville. He will have to improve markedly to create more top fives.

He opens the eero 400 in 14th place, which at least puts him into Chase playoff contention.

“It certainly helps us,” the No. 97 Chevrolet driver said Sunday of his win at Sonoma, “but this is an oval championship.”

–Field Level Media

PHILADELPHIA — Paraguay manager Gustavo Alfaro suggested the extreme heat predicted for Saturday’s round of 16 match against heavily favored France could help his side, but only so much.

High temperatures around 100 Fahrenheit with significant humidity are forecast for the Mid-Atlantic city, with the highs coming an hour or two before the 5 p.m. ET scheduled kickoff.

Paraguay play their home qualifiers in the capital of Asuncion, where average summer highs rise into the 90s.

“We are used to the heat. Yes, we are,” Alfaro said on Friday via an interpreter. “However, you suffer the heat. What knockout match do you have in Paraguay at five in the afternoon? None. Maybe it happened once and there was a defeat. You don’t play at that time.”

He also noted it wouldn’t be the same as Mexico’s advantage playing at high altitude, conditions that Mexico have trained in for weeks.

“Even though you might have this memory, physical memory of understanding what happens with high altitude (or) what happens with heat, it’s different from what happens when you’re there,” he said.

“But the heat will affect both teams. And high altitude affects both teams, yes. But those that have a slight advantage are the ones that were able to prepare in that situation.”

Paraguay pulled off their round of 32 shock over Germany without center back Omar Alderete, who picked up a knee injury in the Albirroja’s group finale against Australia.

Alfaro said Alderete has not yet returned to full team training, but did not rule him out.

“Omar worked well yesterday, but he didn’t do anything on the field,” Alfaro said. “He did tough physical work. He responded well to the work. We’ll see today at our training to see how he responds. … “

“Let’s see if he can start or if he can come in later. He wants to be there. He’s told me, ‘Coach, I don’t want to miss this game.'”

Even though Monday’s triumph over Germany was celebrated with a national holiday, veteran Paraguay defender Junior Alonso insisted there would be no letdown in preparations to face Les Bleus.

“We have worked so hard, we have made so many sacrifices at the professional level, at the personal level, because our dream was to have Paraguay in a World Cup,” he said.

“So whether we have lost or not against Germany, it wouldn’t have meant a defeat to us because we did everything humanly possible to obtain that result and we were able to achieve that. And in this case, in the match against France, it won’t be different because we have the same mindset.

“We know what we are capable of. And the only thing that we could promise to the Paraguayan people is that we are going to give it all. Hopefully, God will be on our side and we will get the result that we want. But if that is not the case, we would have peace of mind anyway because we got prepared for this every day after getting so tired playing with Germany.”

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media