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It was quite different from her first-round match on Sunday but Aryna Sabalenka managed to get through in her second-round clash on Tuesday. Against Great Britain’s Katie Boulter, the no. 1 player in the world needed a little more than two hours and 30 minutes to score a 7-5, 7-6(2) win.
Across both sets, the 56th-ranked Boulter, who qualified for the main draw, served for each set in the 10th game. But on both occasions, she did so, she never once managed to bring up set point. The 27-year-old secured a break on Sabalenka’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and in the ninth game, in the second.
Once Sabalenka made her way back, she ensured that Boulter never got a chance at tilting the score in her favour, once again. Sabalenka had eight aces and finished with seven double faults. Her opponent had five aces and six double faults of her own.
The 2023 Australian Open winner won 67% of her first-serve points to her rival’s 63%. Sabalenka also won 55% points on return on Boulter’s second serve while winning 56% of her second-serve points. Sabalenka finished the match with 107 points to Boulter’s 95 of which 34 were winners.
Boulter hit an identical number of winners. Next up for Sabalenka will be Jasmine Paolini. The Italian won her second-round match on Monday against Yue Yuan.
China Open: Ons Jabeur's route in Beijing draws to a close
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who’s drawn to be Sabalenka’s opponent in the semi-final also picked up a three-sets win in her second-round clash.
The American who played Anna Blinkova dropped the opening set but rebounded to clinch a 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1 win after two hours and five minutes of play. Among the early winners was also Caroline Garcia. The ninth seed from France was also pushed to three sets by Yulia Putintseva and came through 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after two hours and 15 minutes of play.
There were two upsets in the early session of play at the China Open. Marta Kostyuk toppled seventh seed Ons Jabeur 7-6(5), 6-1 in their match that lasted 76 minutes. Local, Xinyu Wang scripted the exit of 11th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-2.