Aryna Sabalenka news: World No 2 survives serving yips again as she stutters into third round

Australian Open
Aryna Sabalenka in action

Another match, another service meltdown yet world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka is safely into the third round of the 2022 Australian Open after beating Wang Xinyu.

After 12 double faults during her opening-round win over Storm Sanders, Sabalenka followed it up with 19 double faults against Wang on Thursday.

However, she advanced with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over the 100th-ranked Wang in just under two hours on Rod Laver Arena.

The Belarusian just couldn’t find her service motion in the opening set as she broken four times by her Chinese opponent.

Things improved in the second set and a break in game one settled the nerves, resulting in her taking it to a deciding set where three breaks earned her the win.

“She hit really hard and served really well… It’s tough to play against her. I tried to stay as low as I can and just put the ball back. Make it simple,” Sabalenka said.

“I already have a lot of experience playing without the serve and I just kept telling myself ‘you have enough shots to still win the match even if you cannot serve’ so I think this kind of mentality helped me stay in the game and actually helped me find my serve.”

Up next is Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the fourth round after the Czech defeated Luidmila Samsonova from Russia 6-2, 7-5.

Aryna Sabalenka

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