The world’s number two Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) started the 2024 season with a convincing victory versus Lucia Bronzetti (Italy) in the second round of the WTA 500 Brisbane International. The Belarusian tennis player won the match by 2-0 (6:3, 6:0) in only 59 minutes of play.
Aryna Sabalenka, who is top-seeded in the tournament, needed to save a breakpoint already in the first game, but after that continued strongly at her serve. In the 6th game of the set, she received her first breakpoint and realized it to take a lead by 4:2. This was the cornerstone of the set and she did not lose her advance and won by 6:3.
The second set was under the total dominance of Aryna Sabalenka, who made three breaks and did not give a single game to her opponent.
In the third round of the tournament, the Belarusian tennis player will face Lin Zhu (China), who eliminated Danielle Collins (USA) after 2-1 (1:6, 6:3, 7:6).
The second-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) also qualified for the third round after defeating Olivia Gadecki (Australia) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:1) in 73 minutes. In the Round of 16, she will face Elise Mertens (Belgium), who eliminated Sloane Stephens (USA) by 2-1 (2:6, 6:1, 6:3).
Magda Linette (Poland) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) also had a perfect start to the season, achieving straight-set victories versus Cristina Bucsa (Spain) and Camila Giorgi (Italy), respectively.
The 16-year-old Russian talent Mirra Andreeva also made a great match in the second round and defeated her compatriot and 4th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova by 2-0 (6:2, 6:1).
Meanwhile, Clara Burel (France) eliminated the 12th-seeded Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:1), while Julia Riera (Argentina) brought an even bigger surprise, defeating the 7th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) by 2-0 (6:3, 6;4).
Daria Kasatkina (Russia) won her match versus Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:40, while Linda Noskova (Czech Republic) defeated Sorana Cirstea (Romania) by 2-1 (6:4, 4:6, 6:4).
In the last matches for the day, Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) stopped the pace of the newly returned Naomi Osaka (Japan) and defeated her by 2-1 (3:6, 7:6, 6:4), Anastasia Potapova (Russia) defeated Daria Saville (Australia) by 2-1 (6:4, 3:6, 6:4) and Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) eliminated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:3).
