NEW YORK — Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka out-gunned Kamilla Rakhimova 6-3, 6-4 to lead the way into the US Open round of 16.
The world number one from Belarus fired 29 winners, with 10 aces, and didn’t face a break point, but that didn’t tell the entire tale of match that saw 92nd-ranked Rakhimova push Sabalenka hard in a second-set slugfest.
“She played incredible tennis, she really pushed me so hard in the second set,” Sabalenka said according to AFP.
“I’m super happy that I was able to close this match in straight sets because she’s a fighter.”
Sabalenka, whose world number one ranking is under threat in New York, got off to a strong start, breaking Rakhimova in her first service game and holding her own serve with ease.
Sabalenka didn’t miss a first serve until the seventh game of the contest, pocketing the first set in 35 minutes.
But Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova dialed up the power in the second set, which featured mammoth service holds from each player before Sabalenka gained the crucial break for a 5-4 lead.
Sabalenka, who must repeat as champion to have a chance of remaining number one, next faces either 15th-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider or 96th-ranked American Taylor Townsend.
Shnaider knocked Sabalenka out of the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in June.
Sabalenka hasn’t won a title since her impressive Indian Wells-Miami double in March.
As she tries to join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova as the only women to win three straight US Open titles she said she’s trying to tune out expectations — positive and negative.
