did not need long to show she was back on the court. In her first match since thefinal, she beat Renata Zarazua 6-1, 6-3 in the China Open, closing out a one-sided afternoon in Beijing on Friday.
The score was only part of It. Sabalenka hit 11 aces and served no double faults. She landed 64 percent of her first serves and won 88 percent of the points behind them, plus 71 percent on her second serve. Zarazua found the box with 84 percent of her first deliveries and still won only half of those points, and 44 percent on her second serve. She created no break chances. Sabalenka broke four times from eight opportunities and took the point count 60-34.
“I think, first of all, wow, this is the first time I’ve seen a full crowd here in Beijing. You guys probably came to watch Novak [Djokovic], but I really enjoyed playing in front of you all. I was just trying to stay focused on myself, try to stay aggressive on my serve, and on the return as well. I’m happy with the game I played today,” said .
“I’m always excited to come back to China to play in front of you all. Thank you so much for your love, support, and incredible gifts that you always bring. I’m looking forward to my next match. I want to stay focused, focus on myself, on my game, stay aggressive, and push myself and also my opponent,” she added.
Notably, Sabalenka spent the US Open under fire for letting off-court noise sit too close to her tennis, then lost the final to . Rybakina had already beaten her in the Australian Open final. In between, Diana Shnaider ended Sabalenka’s French Open in the quarter-finals, and Naomi Osaka knocked her out of Wimbledon in the fourth round. Flushing Meadows also moved the No. 1 ranking: Rybakina leads the live list on 9,696 points, with Sabalenka second on 7,485, third on 6,225, Coco Gauff fourth on 5,864 and Mirra Andreeva fifth on 5,786.
A Beijing title would not restore the top spot on its own. It would shrink the gap while Sabalenka tries to play the week on her own terms.
The upcoming third round is not a free hit. Nikola Bartunkova led Sabalenka 6-2 on grass at the Berlin Open earlier this year before the favourite recovered to win in three sets.
They meet again on Sunday, October 4. The winner plays Sinja Kraus or Dayana Yastremska in the last 16. Bartunkova has the evidence that Sabalenka can be rattled. Sabalenka has the serve numbers from Friday and a message she chose to say twice.
