World No. 1 Sabalenka Starts New Season With Almost Flawless Performance
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WTA World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has started her new season at the 2025 Brisbane International, and it was almost a flawless performance from the Belarusian player.
As one of the seeded players, Sabalenka had a first-round bye at the 2025 Brisbane International, which meant that she started in the second round of the WTA 500 tournament, running from December 29th until January 5th.
Last year, the Belarusian played in the final of the event, but Elena Rybakina bested her. This year, Rybakina competes at the United Cup, making Sabalenka an even more overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.
She certainly confirmed that favorite tag in the second-round match against Renata Zarazua, ranked 75th in the world. The World No. 1 player was, naturally, expected to win the match, and she did it relatively easily.
In the first set, Sabalenka started by breaking her opponent's serve to lead 2-0, and despite facing a break point in the following game, she was able to hold her serve and increase her lead to 3-0.
Then, however, the Belarusian player had her probably only bad moment of the match when she lost ten consecutive points, losing her lead. Zarazua was able to level the score at 3-3.
Sabalenka was able to apply pressure on her opponent at the end of the set again, and breaking her at the best possible moment, the top seed won the first set 6-4.
The three-time Grand Slam champion didn't start the second set ideally, facing two break points, but from there, it was a smooth cruise for the two-time defending Australian Open winner.
Sabalenka lost only four more points after winning the first game, delivering a so-called bagel to her opponent while beating her 6-4, 6-0 to reach the third round of the 2025 Brisbane International.
In the third round of the tournament, Sabalenka will take on the 15th-seeded Yulia Putintseva, who also had a first-round bye and bested McCartney Kessler 6-2, 7-5 in her second-round match.
Following her win, Sabalenka also talked about her off-season, admitting that she wanted to enjoy some time in her own bed, but it didn't end up well because she missed her plane, extending her off-season by one more day.
"I had some time off. I went back to Florida and slept in my bed. I was really tired from the hotels every week. After such an intense season I felt like I could rest for another month."
"My team was calling me trying to reach out, making sure I got to the plane on time. I was late for the first plane. I thought I was flying out at night but it was actually in the morning. I was like 'Ok guys I think we need another ticket.' It was funny. I was like 'Ok, whatever. An extra day off. Thank you.'"
