The world’s top-ranked participant, Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday cruised into the second spherical of the China Open, delivering an authoritative 6-1, 6-2 victory over Sofia Kenin from the United States.
The Belarusian pummeled Kenin with a succession of mighty serves and groundstrokes and wrapped up the opening set with an ace after simply 23 minutes.
The 25-year-old broke serve twice extra within the second set as Kenin – taking part in with heavy strapping on her left thigh – didn’t muster a response.
Sabalenka sealed the match with one more unreturned serve to arrange a tie in opposition to both Magdalena Frech or Katie Boulter within the subsequent spherical.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to play that good on my serve – in practice, it didn’t work very well,” Sabalenka stated at a post-match news briefing.
“But I was super hyped that I was able to bring that level on my serve today. I think it helped a lot,” she stated.
“I think that was the key of today’s match.”
All of the world’s prime eight are participating within the ladies’s draw this 12 months, with second-ranked Iga Swiatek resulting from play Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The China Open is happening for the primary time since 2019 after Beijing ended its isolationist zero-Covid insurance policies.
The ladies’s match can be in motion for the primary time because the international governing physique ended a boycott of China this 12 months.
The embargo had been declared after Chinese participant Peng Shuai made sexual assault accusations in opposition to a prime authorities official.
Source: www.dailysabah.com