Google News Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka sternly warns Iga Swiatek after crushing No. 28 seed
by DZEVAD MESIC
Aryna Sabalenka destroyed Lesia Tsurenko without a single game lost and later revealed her goal is to try to keep up Iga Swiatek's bagel pace.
On Friday, No. 2 seed Sabalenka thrashed 28th-seeded Tsurenko 6-0 6-0 to set up an Australian Open round-of-16 meeting against Amanda Anisimova in a very dominant way. The new tennis season just started 20 days ago but Sabalenka has already won six sets with a 6-0 scoreline.
Over the last two years, Swiatek has been absolutely dominant in that aspect, having 22 bagel sets in 2022 and 23 last year, respectively. So far this season, world No. 1 Swiatek has had just one set with a 6-0 scoreline.
"Last year Iga won so many sets 6-0, and this is one of the goals - try to get closer to her. Actually, I'm just super happy with the level I'm playing so far and hopefully I can just keep going like that, or even better," Sabalenka said after her win.
After saving a break point in the opening game of the match, Sabalenka didn't face any other break points in the first set and she also converted 3-of-4 of her break point chances to very routinely win the opening set.
Early in the second set, Tsurenko had her best shot at winning a game but the Ukrainian missed out on two consecutive game points in the second game. After breaking Tsurenko in the second game, Sabalenka also managed to get the breaks in the fourth and sixth games and complete a double-bagel win.
Coco Gauff joins Sabalenka in the Australian Open third round
Gauff, seeded at No. 4, also had a great day at the office, beating fellow American Alycia Parks 6-0 6-2.
In the opening game of the match, Parks had three consecutive game points but didn't convert any of them as Gauff went on to start the match with a break. From that moment on, there was only one player on the court in the first set Gauff also claimed breaks in the third and fifth games en route to bageling Parks.
After easily losing the first set, Parks managed to stabilize her game a bit and serve out her opening two service games at the start of the second set. Just when it seemed that Parks could be starting to get competitive against Gauff, the third-seeded American went on to win the next five games and seal a very convincing win.
In the Australian Open round-of-16, Gauff will be meeting Magdalena Frech for the first time.