China Open: Sabalenka moves past Sawangkaew to reach third round

Aryna Sabalenka moved one step closer to her first Beijing crown on Saturday fending off a spirited challenge from Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew before notching a 6-4, 6-1 win in the second round of the China Open.

Reigning US Open champion Sabalenka had her hands full with rising 22-year-old Sawangkaew for large portions of the encounter, but the World No.2 prevailed after 76 minutes of play and collected her 13th straight match-win on the Hologic WTA Tour.

“In the first set, I was struggling a little bit with the rhythm,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “In the second set, seems like everything started working much better. … I think that’s why it was more smooth and better quality.”

“I’m having a lot of great memories from the past,” Sabalenka said. “I don’t even know how many tournaments I won in China. It’s always great to come back and feel the atmosphere, feel the vibe, knowing that I kind of gain my fan club here.

“It gives me more motivation to go there and compete and bring my best tennis and make sure I stay till the last stages of the tournament, so I can enjoy this atmosphere as much as possible.”

Sabalenka has posted many of her best efforts in China, where she has won four of her 16 career WTA singles titles.

Since the WTA 1000 tier began in 2009, no player has a better winning percentage at WTA 1000 tournaments in China than Sabalenka, with an 85.7 percent success rate at those events.