Aryna Sabalenka broke new ground after beginning her China Open campaign with a victory.
On Saturday the 26-year-old took to the court for the first time since capturing her first US Open title.
She arrived at the China Open as the tournament’s top seed following the withdrawal of World number one Iga Swiatek.
The Belarusian is in imperious form following her success in the United States and she is the favourite to clinch the title in the Chinese capital.
Aryna Sabalenka sets new China Open record after winning her first round match
Aryna Sabalenka began her China Open campaign against Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who entered the tournament as a qualifier.
The Thai player, 22, claimed her first ever win on the WTA Tour by beating Zarina Diyas in round one.
She gave Sabalenka a stern test in set one, but the three-time Grand Slam winner found a way to take the lead, and stormed through set two before claiming a 6-4, 6-1 win after 76 minutes.
In the process Sabalenka claimed her 13th successive win and she has now won 18 of her first 21 matches in WTA-1000 tournaments in China.
According to OptaAce, this is the most wins from any player since the WTA 1000 format was introduced in 2009.
Aryna Sabalenka aims to win China Open and she hunts down World number one spot
Sabalenka is keen to finish the year strong and has made no secret of her desire to regain the World number one ranking.
She reached the summit of the women’s game in 2023 and remained there for eight weeks, but Swiatek has been the dominant player in tennis since she first became number one following Ash Barty’s retirement in 2022.
But after a successful summer on the North American hard courts, Sabalenka is just over 2000 ranking points behind the Pole.
Should Sabalenka win the China Open she would close that gap, even more so with Swiatek set to lose points given that was unable to defend the title.
There is still plenty of tennis to be played between now and the end of the season, and it is all to play for as Sabalenka continues her mission.
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