Aryna Sabalenka has made a winning start to her Asian swing as the world No. 2 dismantled qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4 6-1 to reach the Beijing round-of-16.
In the absence of Iga Swiatek, the Belarusian – seeded at No. 1 – struggled a bit early on as she blew a break and found herself tied to four games apiece with the world No. 187.
However, the three-time Grand Slam champion was able to put that behind her and break the Thai again in the 10th game when she was serving to stay in the first set.
Through the opening two games of the second set, the players were leveled to one game apiece. But then, Sabalenka put it in another gear and won the next five games to complete her win in an impressive way.
For the 26-year-old, it was her 13th consecutive win – she previously won back-to-back titles in Cincinnati and the US Open. In her next match, the top seed will play against the winner of the match between No. 29 seed Lulu Sun and Ashlyn Krueger.
What Sabalenka following her win over Sawangkaew?
For the 22-year-old Thai, it was her maiden appearance at the WTA 1000 level. And although she didn’t come anywhere near upsetting the former world No. 1, she still played decent and didn’t embarrass herself. Afterward, the Belarusian herself acknowledged that.
“She’s playing great tennis. The first set she played incredible tennis. It was really difficult playing against her. Especially on this surface in these conditions. I’m happy I was able to manage that set. In The second set everything started coming together. Thank you so much for the support. It’s really amazing to be back here. I’m happy with this win,” Sabalenka said.
With Swiatek and Elena Rybakina not playing in Beijing and Sabalenka being in outstanding form right now, there is no doubt who is the top favorite to win it all at the China Open.