Sabalenka Sets Bar High In Stellar Brisbane Season Kickoff
Aryna Sabalenka will want to challenge Iga Swiatek in 2024 again, and she started her charge well at the 2024 Brisbane International, beating Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets.
The Polish player already got to show her qualities in 2024, and she did show that her dominance is nowhere to be gone. While Swiatek competes at the United Cup, the Belarusian plays at the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane as the top seed, and she showed that she means business already in her first match at the event.
As the top seed, Sabalenka had a first-round bye, and in the second round of the event, she took on Lucia Bronzetti, who overcame Ashlyn Krueger in the first round, and whom she never met before.
Already in the first game of the match, the world no. 2 faced a break point, but from there, it was a dominant ride that never seemed to be stopping.
Sabalenka lost only five more points on her serve in the remainder of the opening set, and used the only break point that she had to win the set 6-3 in only 35 minutes of play.
After that, she increased the intensity even further. The top seed won the first nine rallies of the second set, and produced one of the most dominant displays possible, losing only five points in the second set.
The 25-year-old converted three out of four break points that she had, and hit four aces, in what was a crushing second-set victory, beating her opponent 6-3, 6-0 in only 59 minutes, and advancing to the second round of the tournament.
Now, Sabalenka will await the winner of the match between the 15th-seeded Lin Zhu and Danielle Collins, as she'll look to go far on her debut in Brisbane, in an attempt to reduce Swiatek's lead in the WTA Rankings.
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