AIRLINK 175.65 Decreased By ▼ -1.91 (-1.08%)
BOP 11.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.36%)
CNERGY 8.33 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.96%)
FCCL 47.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.46%)
FFL 16.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.62%)
FLYNG 27.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.33 (-1.21%)
HUBC 142.45 Decreased By ▼ -4.46 (-3.04%)
HUMNL 13.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.04%)
KEL 4.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.11%)
KOSM 5.91 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
MLCF 61.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-0.84%)
OGDC 226.31 Decreased By ▼ -8.37 (-3.57%)
PACE 5.80 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PAEL 44.79 Decreased By ▼ -1.62 (-3.49%)
PIAHCLA 17.93 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.05%)
PIBTL 10.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-1.14%)
POWER 12.10 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.92%)
PPL 185.99 Decreased By ▼ -5.81 (-3.03%)
PRL 37.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.19%)
PTC 24.14 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (4.05%)
SEARL 99.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-0.93%)
SSGC 38.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.31 (-3.3%)
SYM 14.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.93%)
TELE 7.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.15%)
TPLP 11.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.09%)
TRG 66.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.29 (-1.92%)
WAVESAPP 11.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-3.08%)
WTL 1.36 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
YOUW 3.82 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (1.33%)
BR100 12,826 Increased By 19.4 (0.15%)
BR30 38,861 Decreased By -842.2 (-2.12%)
KSE100 118,792 Decreased By -146.5 (-0.12%)
KSE30 36,779 Increased By 22.6 (0.06%)

BRISBANE: Aryna Sabalenka overcame a sluggish start to open her season with a straight-sets victory Tuesday and kickstart her bid to win the Australian Open for a third consecutive time.

The world number one from Belarus appeared bothered by the high humidity on Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, particularly in an error-strewn first set.

But after breaking Mexico’s Renata Zarazua at 5-4, the 26-year-old surged through the second set to wrap up the match 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes.

“The first match is always a tricky one,” Sabalenka said.

“It was a tricky start for me but I’m glad that I closed it out in the first set, and in the second set I felt like whatever I tried to do it would work for me.

Elena Rybakina ready to put Ivanisevic insight to the test at United Cup

“So I’m really happy for the first win of the season.”

Sabalenka is bidding to be the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997-99 to win three Australian Open crowns in succession. The year’s opening Grand Slam starts in Melbourne on January 12.

She will play Yulia Putintseva next after the Kazakh’s 6-2, 7-5 win over American Mccartney Kessler.

In other matches, Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan stunned Spain’s fourth seed Paula Badosa in the first match on centre court.

Avanesyan won the first set but when the world number 12 raced back to level the match it seemed like Badosa would progress to the third round.

But the Russian-born Armenian broke early in the decider before easing away to win 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

There was a second upset when American Ashlyn Krueger downed Russian sixth seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3.

In the men’s draw American fourth seed Frances Tiafoe saw off Australian wildcard Adam Walton 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 while Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi upset Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.

Comments

200 characters