(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Aryna Sabalenka made her way into the third round of the French Open on Wednesday. The world no. 2 defeated Iryna Shyamanovich 7-5, 6-2 in almost an hour-and-a-half. The match twisted and turned between both players with Sabalenka first getting the break in the opening set before the qualifier wrested it back.
Sabalenka’s game looked to be more put together than in her first match against Kostyuk on Sunday. The second seed did suffer a small setback in the second set as well but unlike in the first, was able to deal with Shyamanovich’s shot-making better.
In the eighth game of the set, Sabalenka brought up three match points for herself on the 214th-ranked Shyamanovich’s serve. The 25-year-old saved the first but an error gave the match away to the reigning Australian Open winner.
Sabalenka hit 21 winners and 23 unforced errors to her opponent’s 13 winners and 17 unforced errors. Shyamanovich, however, had twice as many forced errors as her higher-ranked rival’s 17. This is the fourth year in a row that Sabalenka’s made it to the round-of-32 at Roland Garros.
The 25-year-old will play either Magdalena Frech or Kamilla Rakhimova next.
