Aryna Sabalenka often dominates in her early-round matches at Grand Slams, but her performance against Lesia Tsurenko was impressive even by her standards.
Sabalenka is the defending champion in Melbourne, and already looked in good form in the opening rounds. For instance, Sabalenka defeated teenage talent Brenda Fruhvirtova easily in the second round and only dropped one game in the first round.
The 25-year-old had also received a welcome boost off the court. This was from the announcement that the Olympic ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes had been scrapped. Sabalenka welcomed the ban being lifted.
The Australian Open champion also recently addressed the issue of the WTA Finals potentially being played in Saudi Arabia. Sabalenka was clear that she had no issue with playing in Saudi Arabia if that decision was made.
But Sabalenka let her powerful tennis do the talking on the Rod Laver Arena. She saved one break point early in the match, but after that, the match became one of the most one-sided affairs ever seen at a Grand Slam.
Tsurenko had been playing well in Melbourne in her opening two rounds, but unfortunately, she simply could not cope with Sabalenka. The Ukrainian repeatedly made errors from not being able to adjust to the pace of her illustrious opponent's shots.
After claiming the opening set 6-0, some may have expected Sabalenka's level to drop slightly. But she was not so forgiving. If anything, her level actually got even better, and the winners continued to flow.
There was no shortage of effort from Tsurenko, but her attitude did not help her at all in this one. Understandably, her body language began to get worse, and Sabalenka quickly put her out of her misery.
Sabalenka won 6-0 6-0 in just 52 minutes. This result will not have gone unnoticed by the rest of the draw.
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