It was a 16th consecutive victory on Melbourne’s centre court for Sabalenka, who is looking to win the first Grand Slam of the year for a third time in a row
Aryna Sabalenka during her second-round win yesterday
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka battled through serving woes Wednesday to make the Australian Open third round, admitting she was relieved to get a tricky match done in straight sets.
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The World No. 1 dropped serve three times and faced 11 break points before overcoming Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Rod Laver Arena 6-3, 7-5, rattling off the last five games in a row.
It was a 16th consecutive victory on Melbourne’s centre court for Sabalenka, who is looking to win the first Grand Slam of the year for a third time in a row.
Next up is Denmark’s 42nd-ranked Clara Tauson. “She played incredible tennis today and it was a really tough one. I expected this tennis from her, I’m really glad I was able to win this match,” said Sabalenka.
“In the second set, honestly, I wasn’t rushing too much. After 5-2 I thought, ‘okay whatever, we’ll leave this set and move on.’
“But I was able to turn it around and super happy to win in straight sets,” she added.
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