Aryna Sabalenka has been on fire down under so far, and it continued against Daria Kasatkina as she won in two simple sets.
Sabalenka was absolutely amazing in Australia last year so her doing well this year isn't such a huge surprise. After all, she won the Australian Open last year due to the way the courts fit her super-aggressive style.
Very few players can match the power she produces in most rallies. That's why people compared her to Serena when she showed up on the Tour. Kasatkina has had that problem with Sabalenka in the past, and it certainly was a problem today on these courts.
The first set clearly illustrated that as the Belarusian took the opening set 6-1. Funnily enough, the game she lost was on her serve, so Kasatkina was broken three times in the opening set, obviously far too many. Sabalenka simply attacked every ball with great success.
The rallies were just too dominant for Sabalenka. She served well, too, which was too much to overcome for the Russian. The second set was a tiny bit better. She kept herself in the set for a while, but eventually, Sabalenka once again jumped out ahead.
It looked very similar to the way the previous matches looked, as she has been absolutely on fire so far. After taking the 3-2 lead in the second set, Sabalenka did well to hold her serve and make it 4-2. There was some serious pressure from Kasatkina in that game, but ultimately Sabalenka held on.
That would have been all from the Russian as the match continued as expected after that with Sabalenka finishing it off comfortably. The final score was 6-1 6-4 for the Belarusian, who is playing like the best player in the world right now. We'll see at the Australian Open.
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