Aryna Sabalenka begins US Open 'three-peat' quest with comfortable win

[p]The Belarusian has been trying ‌to turn around a dismal second half of ‌the season, having failed to reach a final since ‌winning at Indian Wells and the Miami Open to ‌complete the Sunshine Double in March.[/p][p]She seemed well on her way to flipping the script with the crowd on her ‌side at Arthur Ashe Stadium.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Sabalenka[/a], who would ⁠join Serena Williams and ‌Chris Evert as the only women to win three straight ​US Opens in the professional era, fired off 32 winners to set up a meeting with ​Russian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/iatcenko-polina/ADlgOFQL/"]Polina Iatcenko[/a] in the second round.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="463958c7-5b45-4af7-8f88-df9c705b8965" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="1ae08779-0879-4150-9c5d-adc00dcdf617" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]"[b]I'm super happy with the level I played[/b]," said Sabalenka. "[b]I feel like ⁠this is one ​of my favourite stadiums, I really experienced the best emotions here on this stadium[/b]."[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osorio-serrano-maria-camila/rysUUciD/"]Osorio[/a] handed Sabalenka a break with a double fault in the third game - one of ‌five she had across the opening set - and slipped 4-1 behind as the Belarusian converted on another break point with an unreturnable backhand.[/p][p]The Colombian trimmed the lead to 4-2 in the next game but never got a hold of the momentum and her racket went flying in her futile attempt to reach Sabalenka's perfectly placed drop shot on break point in the ‌seventh game.[/p][embed guid="ec8efe24-3516-47af-a6a1-608cd820bb1e" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-gz5pDWPQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]After trading early breaks in the second set, ​Sabalenka wore down her opponent's defence to secure the ‌pivotal break in the ninth game, before closing it out with an unreturnable serve and a subdued celebration.[/p][p]Sabalenka is also defending her world number one ranking in New York, with three other players ⁠in the women's main ⁠draw in a position ‌to overtake her.[/p][infobox id="3dc51b3a-107f-482b-9173-a97d347ef1b3" /]