Top seed Aryna Sabalenka dominates Mananchaya Sawangkaew in the second set to advance to the third round

No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka continued her season-long hot streak after beating Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the third round at the China Open.

“She can run as long as she can. At some point she’s going to get tired and I can stay there, I can hit the ball as long as I need,” Sabalenka said after the match.

Sawangkaew’s first round match was an anthill compared to the mountain that is Sabalenka, who came into the China Open on a 12-match winning streak, including the U.S. Open title.

Sawankaew stayed within reach, but it seemed Sabalenka could run away with the set after breaking Sawankaew’s serve in the sixth game, giving Sabalenka a 4-2 lead. But Sawangkaew won the following two games to level the match. She carried herself confidently, never showing any signs of defeat even when playing from behind. Sabalenka went on to win the final two games and the set, but the competitiveness from the lower-ranked player could not go unnoticed.

“In the first set I was struggling a little bit with the rhythm, with the speed of the court, with the way the balls are getting heavier,” she explained at a press conference afterward. “In the second set, seems like everything started working much better.”  

In the second set, Sabalenka immediately set the tone with two aces and a service winner, taking the first game. Sawangkaew held in the second game, but lost any chance of gaining momentum after double-faulting twice in Game 4, with the second double-fault coming on the final point of the game. Sabalenka won the final five games of the match to secure her 47^th win of the season.

This marks Sabalenka’s 13^th consecutive win and her streak begun on Aug. 15 in Cincinnati. She will next face American No. 64 Ashlyn Krueger in the third round on Monday.

— Reporting by Ryan Loomer