Trembling Sabalenka overcomes serve fights to stay alive in Melbourne

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka battled through serve problems on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Australian Open, but it was a less than convincing display from the world number one.

The Belarusian dropped serve three times and faced 11 break points before overcoming Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at Rod Laver Arena 6-3, 7-5 to rattle off the last five games in a row.

It was her 16th straight win on Melbourne’s center court after back-to-back titles and a first-round win over 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

Next up is Denmark’s 42nd-ranked Clara Tauson, who faces a daunting task given the 26-year-old’s record on the blue hard courts.

Overall, Sabalenka is 16-2 on Rod Laver Arena with her only losses coming against Serena Williams in 2021 and Ashleigh Barty in 2018.

“She played incredible tennis today and it was really tough. I expected this tennis from her, I’m really happy that I was able to win this match,” she said.

“In the second set, I honestly didn’t rush too much. After 5-2 I thought, ‘okay whatever, we’ll leave this set and move on.’

“But I was able to turn it around and was super happy to win in straight sets against someone like her who really makes you work for every point.”

Bouzas had some pedigree, beating then-reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova at the All England Club last year while steadily climbing the rankings to her current 54th.

Both players’ radars were off in a seesaw opening set with five breaks of serve, two against the top seed.

Sabalenka eventually reduced the deficit to 5-2 and then again to take the set in a harrowing 44 minutes.

Service wobbles returned in the second set and a wayward forehand gave Bouzas a break to move 3-1 ahead, then she held with an ace to turn the tables.

The Spaniard served for the set at 5-3 but Sabalenka dug herself out of a hole to break back as the 22-year-old netted a backhand.

Bouzas Maneiro had run out of gas, broken again before the Belarusian served for the match.

Sabalenka is chasing a rare hat-trick of consecutive wins at the Australian Open, a feat last accomplished 26 years ago by Martina Hingis and matched by only four other women in history.

mp/dh