Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka continued her smooth progress through the bottom half of the draw of Australian Open 2024 on Wednesday night with a 6-3 6-2 win over impressive Czech teenage qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova.
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It had been inside Rod Laver Arena where another 16-year-old, Mirra Andreeva, had thrashed sixth seed Ons Jabeur earlier in the day, and Fruhvirtova produced plenty of impressive tennis of her own despite the straight sets scoreline.
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From 3-3 in the opening set, Sabalenka’s powerful ball striking started to make the difference though as she rattled off seven successive games to take control.
The world No.2 finished the match having struck 30 winners, and has dropped just six games in her opening two rounds.
Despite eventually dominating her younger opponent, Sabalenka seemed to be in no doubt that the former junior world No.4, who recorded her first-ever Grand Slam victory in Melbourne this week, is destined for an impressive career.
“For someone who’s 16 years old she’s doing an incredible job,” she said in her on-court interview. “I wish I would be on this level when I was 16.
“She’s an unbelievable player and I’m pretty sure she’ll keep going, keep working and will be at the top very soon."
Asked if Andreeva’s earlier demolition job on Jabeur had been in her mind when she stepped on court against an opponent the same age, Sabalenka said she’d tried to block that result out.
“I’m super happy with the win. I just tried to focus on myself, not on anything else … just tried to not let this young lady go to the next round.”
Fruhvirtova, whose older sister Linda reached the AO 2023 fourth round as a 17-year-old and who is already in the top 100, should be encouraged by those words and the way she competed with the world No.2.
Now coached by Nicolas Massu, who guided Dominic Thiem to the 2020 US Open title, the right-hander from Prague served well, and for long periods of the opening set looked comfortable trading from the back of the court with one of the biggest hitters in the game.
Sabalenka quickly jumped into a 2-0 lead in the opening set, but the feel of the match soon changed as the qualifier started to settle.
The youngster was beginning to have success hitting back behind the second seed, and a string of sweetly-struck crosscourt forehands helped her break back immediately before a hold made it 2-2 after 17 minutes.
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After edging into a 4-3 lead with a hold of her own, Sabalenka started to find her range on return and a couple of trademark big hits helped her break for 5-3.
Although she served out the set without too much fuss, it had at times been a tricky opening 38 minutes for the defending Melbourne Park champion.
With a set on the board, though, and visibly more relaxed, Sabalenka immediately began playing with more freedom and aggression.
That gear-change and a period of all-out-attack allowed her to impose herself early in the second set as she quickly built a 4-0 lead.
Fruhvirtova made sure she stuck around with a couple of late holds of serve before the former world No.1 finished the job with 67 minutes on the clock.
After a rest day, Sabalenka will be back on Friday to take on 28th seed Lesia Tsurenko, a straight-sets winner over Rebeka Masarova, for a place in the fourth round.