Another win for Aryna Sabalenka at Australian Open as rain hampers opening day
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Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka extended her Australian Open winning streak to 15 matches on a rain-soaked opening day at Melbourne Park. Less than an hour of play was possible on the outside courts before a huge thunderstorm hit Melbourne Park, sending spectators running for cover and causing a delay of more than six hours.
The matches continued as scheduled on the three covered courts, and Sabalenka opened the night session on Rod Laver Arena with a 6-3 6-2 victory over former US Open champion Sloane Stephens. While it was a tough draw on paper, Stephens has slipped to 81 in the rankings and, barring a mini revival from the American when she won three games in a row after losing the first four, this was smooth sailing for Sabalenka.
The two-time champion said: “It was a tough match, always tough matches against her. Not that I played my best probably but I was glad I was able to close this match in straight sets.”. The player Sabalenka beat in the final last year, fifth seed Zheng Qinwen, also safely reached round two.
The 22-year-old from China, who went on to win Olympic gold in Paris, did not have things all her own way against Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni but battled to a 7-6 (3) 6-1 victory. Zheng looked in complete control serving for the set at 5-4 and leading 40-0 only for Todoni to win five points in a row.
The Romanian then held three set points with Zheng serving at 5-6 but could not take any of them and things were comfortable for the fifth seed thereafter. “The first match is always not easy,” said Zheng in her on-court interview. “She’s playing really good but I was doing a bit stupid mistakes at 5-4 40-0, I don’t know what happened there.”.
