Top seed Sabalenka survives Rakhimova challenge in Washington opener

WASHINGTON D.C. -- World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka was victorious in her opening match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open on Wednesday night, defeating No.78 Kamilla Rakhimova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round. 

With the win, Sabalenka advanced to her first hard-court quarterfinal since winning the Australian Open in January. She will face either Victoria Azarenka or Wang Yafan on Friday. 

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"I'm super happy to be back on court," Sabalenka said. "I didn't play like for months it feels like. It's been more than that.

"Happy to get through this tough match. She played incredible tennis."

Playing her first match since a rotator cuff forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon, Sabalenka did well to maintain her composure in the face of a resilient challenge from Rakhimova, who was facing down a Top 10 player for just the third time in her career. 

Sabalenka struck 24 winners in the opening set but Rakhimova kept the set in balance with her outstanding court coverage and clutch play. After Sabalenka finally broke through to take the set after 67 physical minutes, Rakhimova bounced back to lead the second set 4-2. Sabalenka's aggression dipped and Rakhimova took advantage to take the match to a final set.

But after blunting Sabalenka's baseline power game for over two hours, Rakhimova finally relented. After exchanging six holds of serve, Rakhimova earned a break point for a 4-3 lead, but Sabalenka wiped it out with a gritty forehand winner. The former No.1 broke serve in the next game and protected her lead through the finish, closing the match after 2 hours and 46 minutes.

Sabalenka finished the match with 53 winners, including 13 aces, along with 53 unforced errors, including 14 double faults. Just four points separated the two in the end.

"At least I was able to serve without pain," Sabalenka said. "It's not going to be easy to come back after injury, especially the one I had.

"I feel okay and we'll see how I feel tomorrow. But I really, really hope I'm going to be all right for the next match."

While Sabalenka was able to squash Rakhimova's upset bid, No.2 seed Daria Kasatkina was ousted in her opening match by Caroline Dolehide. The powerful American came from a set down to earn her first Top 20 win of the season. 

Kasatkina was four points from the victory, serving for the match at 6-2, 5-4. Dolehide did not lose another game. She broke Kasatkina at love and was off to the races, closing out her comeback by winning the last nine games of the match. 

"I think I just needed to focus a little bit more on what was working," Dolehide said. "The conditions were tough out there. It was really humid. It was very dark. The match was getting longer and longer. She makes a lot of balls. So I had to focus on my game, my game style. I executed in the end."

Dolehide's win sets up an all-American showdown against Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier in the day. Anisimova is into her first Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal since 2022 Charleston.