Sabalenka hopes 'this is the beginning' as rare French Open women's night match gets thumbs up from fans: 'Great to see'

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka made light work of Naomi Osaka in the fourth round of the ongoing French Open in what was the first women's night match at the competition in last three years.

Sabalenka demolished Osaka's hopes, defeating the Japanese 7-5 6-3 in a match lasting just an hour and 27 minutes. The top seed qualified for the quarterfinals with her victory and established herself as the favourite to win the title.

After the match, Sabalenka and Osaka both agreed that more women should start getting night-session matches.

Fans react positively to Sabalenka-Osaka clash

“I think it’s really important that they put our match today as a night session,” said Sabalenka after her win. “I think that’s the right move. I think 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."

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“So I hope that this is the beginning. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions.”

Osaka said that the match was "cool". “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," the four-time Grand Slam winner said after her loss.

Fans on social media too largely praised the efforts of French Open organisers to give the night-session slot to women. Check out some of the reactions below:

Sabalenka's next opponent will be Russia’s Diana Shnaider who will be playing her first Major quarterfinal after knocking out former Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the fourth round.