Australian Open: Sabalenka reaches third round, Raducanu crashes out

MELBOURNE: Aryna Sabalenka reached the third round of the Australian Open, while Emma Raducanu exited after a second-round defeat by Austria’s Anastasia Potapova.

Sabalenka defeated China’s Bai Zhuoxuan 6-3, 6-1, as she is aiming for her fifth Grand Slam. Sabalenka started the show brilliantly, racing to a 5-0 lead against China’s Bai before losing three games in a row. The second set was a routine work for the world number one, as she refocused and proceeded to mow down Bai to stay on track for her third title at Melbourne Park. “She didn’t start well, but then she had the strength to step in and to change couple of things and, to put me under pressure. That was really impressive,” Sabalenka said.

“It seemed like she didn’t really care about the score. She would just try to find something that’s going to help her to win the match.” Raducanu, seeded 28th, was sunk by 55th-ranked Potapova, with final scores 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in Melbourne. The British number one was not on song, as she committed a lot of mistakes during the match.

Former US Open champion Raducanu had her preparations hindered by a foot injury, and she returned to court after December 20. “I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something I want to work on,” Raducanu said.

“There are definitely pockets of me playing how I want to play and it comes out in flashes, which is a positive. But it’s not how I want to be consistently every day. “It’s not going to fall into place straight away, but the more I work on how I want to be playing, it will be more of my identity every time I step onto the court. I need to work at that, but it’s not going to happen overnight.” Web Desk