Aryna Sabalenka teaches Mirra Andreeva another lesson in Madrid

Mirra Andreeva might be an important figure in the future of women's tennis. She has the ability to create shots and moves around the court well. She does not yet have the power it takes to dictate play, however. This was her biggest issue on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters. She had her serve broken more than she held against Aryna Sabalenka and Sabalenka simply overpowered the young Russian.

While Andreeva does understand what she needs to do to win, she cannot yet put that into practice. Her serve is still mostly a wreck and she was broken 18 times over the course of the Madrid Masters heading into her match against Sabalenka. The Belarusian simply smashed most of what Andreeva served or returned her way and Andreeva watched as time and again Sabalenka hit a ball past her.

Sabalenka consistently hit with pace from both wings. There were many shots that Andreeva had no chance to get to and there were feet, not inches, between Sabalenka's shot versus where Andreeva stood on the court.

Aryna Sabalenka overpowers Mirra Andreeva but what is next?

Andreeva also did not help herself on her serve in the first set as few of her serves landed in and Sabalenka simply teed off on the Russian's second serve. The Belarusian had 17 winners against just 7 unforced errors in the first set. Andreeva landed only 50 percent of her first serves. It was a recipe for disaster.

The second set was not really what one considered "tight" but at least Andreeva was able to hold serve better. She adjusted to Sabalenka's immense power as much as she is capable of at this point in her young career, though not nearly enough to change the arc of how the match was trending. Holding more than one serve for Andreeva appeared to be a monumental task. Doing so four times, which she was able to accomplish in set two, seemed like a miracle against the onslaught of Sabalenka's shots.

Sabalenka was playing for more than just a match, however. She is playing for ranking. If she is able to make it to the Madrid Masters final, she will hold on to her WTA No. 2 ranking. At least, for now. The issue is that her semifinal opponent, Elena Rybakina, hits with the power that Sabalenka does. Rybakina has won three of the last four matches against the Belarusian. Should Sabalenka fail to reach the final, Coco Gauff would move into the No. 2 spot on the tour.

More tennis news and analysis