Sabalenka reaches Australian Open round three

Belarus’ world number 5 Aryna Sabalenka cruised past world number 51 Shelby Rogers of the United States, 6-3, 6-1, in an hour and 28 minutes to book a meeting against world number 32 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian dispatched world number 74 Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4, in the opener.

Two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (World No.24) saw off world number 191 Nadia Podoroska of Argentine, 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour to move to the 2023 Australian Open round three. In the opener Victoria Azarenka defeated world number 203 Sofia Kenin of the United States, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). The Belarusian will next play world number 13 Madison Keys of the United States.  
Belarus’ world number 38 Aliaksandra Sasnovich solved world number 136 Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2, in the opener and then lost to world number 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, 2-6, 6-7 (5-7) in the second round.

In the women’s doubles opener Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia needed two hours and three sets to see off Lidziya Marozava of Belarus and Xinyun Han of China, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

The Australian Open prize money for 2023 is $51.5 million. Winners in the men’s and women’s singles events will get $2 million each. The tournament at the Melbourne Park hard courts will be over on 29 January.