Aryna Sabalenka wins her first match as World No. 1 in the first round of China Open

Aryna Sabalenka will face Katie Boulter in the second round.

Aryna Sabalenka wins her first match as World No. 1 in the first round of China Open

(L) Sofia Kenin; (R) Aryna Sabalenka (Images via: POPSUGAR/CNN)

World no.1 Aryna Sabalenka got her Asian Hard-court swing to a stunning start as she breezed past Sofia Kenin in the first round of the WTA 1000 China Open. Playing her first match as the world no.1, Sabalenka defeated the 2020 Australian Open champion 6-1,6-2 to book her spot in the second round. The 25-year-old Belarusian needed just 67 minutes to avenge her loss to the American earlier this season in Rome, improving her head-to-head to 3-1.

This is Sabalenka’s first tour-level appearance since her disappointing defeat in the final of the US Open 2023 at the hands of 19-year-old American Coco Gauff. The first seed didn’t receive the first-round bye owing to the performance-byes method adopted by the WTA for the tournament. As a result, all four semi-finalists at the recently concluded Pan Pacific Open received first-round byes.

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Sabalenka, who leads the WTA players in winners hit this year, smashed 22 winners. The Belarusian was prolific on her serve, losing just 6 points, hitting 5 aces and winning an astounding 96% points on her first serve. Indicative of her dominance, the 1st seed won 61 of the 89 points played.

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“I’m super happy with the win, I think I played really great tennis today,” reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka said after her victory as the world no.1. “I didn’t actually expect to play that good after how many weeks I didn’t play tournaments. I think the way I served was the key in today’s match,” she added.

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Aryna Sabalenka shares her view on the performance-byes controversy

WTA’s trialing of performance-byes at the Pan-Pacific Open in Tokyo came under scrutiny after the World no.5 Elena Rybakina accused the WTA of “changing the rules last moment” as she didn’t receive the first round bye she was expecting owing to her top-4 seeding. For context, WTA traditionally hands out the top four seeds first-round byes.

Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia
Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia

Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia, who were handed performance-byes on the back of their semi-final appearance at the Guadalajara Open, backed WTA over the issue saying that they were informed well in advance that the rule will be used at the tournament.

Sharing her disagreements with the WTA on the issue, Sabalenka said, “Players who have byes for having played semi-finals in a lower tournament receive a bye in a 1000 tournament, I don’t understand it. I think you have to earn those byes. You have to do it for the consistency of your game, not just for playing well in a tournament, so you get this advantage. You have to deserve it, that’s why I don’t understand it and I don’t agree. I’m happy for the players who made it, but I think this is not acceptable. I hope the same thing doesn’t happen again later. It would be understandable if it went from 1000 in Guadalajara to 1000 here, but not from 500 tournaments to 1000 tournaments.”

Sabalenka has already qualified for the year-end WTA Finals to be played in Cancun, Mexico. The first seed plays the British pro Katie Boulter in the second round.

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