When World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka raced through the first five games of her second-round Australian Open match against Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan in 15 minutes on Wednesday, the two-time champion looked as though she’d score a seventh consecutive win to start 2026 with ease.
Australian Open: Scores | Draws | Order of play
But after the match time doubled in the next three games — all of which went to World No. 702 Bai, who found her footing inside Rod Laver Arena and more than once left Sabalenka frustrated with impressive rally tolerance and variety — the top seed found herself flummoxed. A previous version of Sabalenka may have unraveled after six points to win the set came and went.
But not the top-ranked one.
Serving at another deuce in the ninth game, Sabalenka hammered down an unreturnable serve to earn a seventh set point, cracked another to win the set, and eventually cruised through to the last 32 in 1 hour and 12 minutes, 6-3, 6-1.
“She really stepped up in the first set, and for a minute, I was like, ‘What should I do? She’s crushing it,'” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “I’m so happy that I was able to close that set. I think it gave me a little more confidence that my game was there … I’m super happy with the win.
“There are always things to improve, but I’m happy that I didn’t lose that game and I was focused. I was trying to tell myself, ‘One at a time, it’s OK, it’s going to come back, you’re OK, keep fighting, keep trying,’ and I’m glad I did it well.”
Sabalenka hit 14 of her 21 unforced errors in the match across the first nine games, and finished the victory with 24 winners.
More to come…
