Sabalenka Cruises into Round Three at Australian Open

Business as usual.

That’s the modus operandi of world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, especially at the Grand Slams, and especially on hard courts.

The 27-year-old powered past Chinese qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai 6-3 6-1 to book her spot in the third round on Day 4, racing through the first five games of the match in a cool quarter-hour and weathering a brief pushback from the world No.702, and converting her seventh set point of the opener to lead, 6-3.

Bai saved four set points while serving at 5-3, then another three with Sabalenka serving for the set before the four-time major champion could finally close it out.

“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.”

From there, only one more game dropped, bringing her total of games dropped to nine through two rounds. Things will get tougher in round three, as Sabalenka is slated to face either 28th-ranked Emma Raducanu or Anastasia Potapova.

In the end, Sabalenka needed just 72 minutes to get past 23-year-old Bai, thanks to 24 winners, 21 of 25 second-serve return points won and five break points converted.

But the odds are favoring Sabalenka, who has won 41 of her last 43 matches on hard courts at the majors, losing only to Madison Keys in last year’s final and Coco Gauff in the 2023 US Open final. In six hard court majors played since the start of 2023, Sabalenka has reached the final of all of them, and came way holding the trophy at four.