Undaunted, Sabalenka broke straight back and held on to claim the opening set, taking two more breaks of her own as she headed towards the finish line.
“She’s a tough opponent,” Sabalenka said of Paolini after improving their head-to-head We played a lot and every time it’s a tough battle. It doesn’t matter the score, I know I always have to stay focused. If you give her an opportunity, she’s going to step in and take control over the game. I think I’m mostly happy with my focus today and that I didn’t drop my serve…
“I mean, I did drop my serve!” she added with a laugh. “But still, I was focused, I was calm and felt like everything was in control.”
Sabalenka didn’t drop serve in the second set, ultimately breaking serve three times to ease over finish line in just over an hour on Sunday.
Up next for the top seed will be either Coco Gauff or Jessica Pegula, who face off in the second round-robin match of the day.
