Takeaways: Sabalenka buries frustration to ease into Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE, Australia -- When World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka raced through the first five games of her second-round Australian Open match against Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan in 15 minutes on Wednesday, the two-time champion looked as though she'd score a seventh consecutive win to start 2026 with ease.

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But after the match time doubled in the next three games -- all of which went to World No. 702 Bai, who found her footing inside Rod Laver Arena and more than once left Sabalenka frustrated with impressive rally tolerance and variety -- the top seed found herself flummoxed. A previous version of Sabalenka may have unraveled after six opportunities to win the set came and went.

But not the top-ranked one.

Serving at another deuce in the ninth game, Sabalenka hammered down an unreturnable serve to earn a seventh set point, cracked another to win the set, and eventually cruised through to the last 32 in 1 hour and 12 minutes, 6-3, 6-1.

What was going through her head?

"She really stepped up in the first set, and for a minute, I was like, 'What should I do? She's crushing it,'" Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "I'm so happy that I was able to close that set. I think it gave me a little more confidence that my game was there ... I'm super happy with the win.

"There are always things to improve, but I'm happy that I didn't lose that game and I was focused. I was trying to tell myself, 'One at a time, it's OK, it's going to come back, you're OK, keep fighting, keep trying,' and I'm glad I did it well."

Sabalenka hit 14 of her 21 unforced errors in the match across the first nine games, and finished the victory with 24 winners.

What does the win mean?

Sabalenka is now through to the third round of the Australian Open for the sixth year in a row. In addition to her 7-0 record to start 2026, she is also now 7-0 in second-round matches in Melbourne.

She continues to win the matches she should, too. She hasn't lost to a player outside the Top 100 in more than three years -- last losing such a match to former Top 20 player Kaia Kanepi at the 2022 US Open. And it's a guarantee that she won't see that streak end in the next round. Her third-round opponent will be either 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu [28] or World No. 55 Anastasia Potapova.

Svitolina, Shnaider set for first-career meeting

Elina Svitolina also continued her hot start to the 2026 season with a second-round 7-5, 6-1 win over Linda Klimovicova. The Ukrainian remains undefeated this year after her title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

She'll face another new opponent in Diana Shnaider in the third round, and is the first guaranteed seeded match of the tournament. No. 23 seed Shnaider saved two match points against Australian wild card Talia Gibson in a comeback 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win. 

"Thank God it was on my serve," Shnaider said. "I just try to go for my serve and then just rally, but don't be, like, too defensive, because obviously she's a big hitter. If would slow it down a little bit, be a little bit more defensive, she would step in and just rip it.

"I just tried to be, you know, play safe, but at the same time, also aggressive so I didn't give her a lot of opportunity."

Sonmez back in third round at a Grand Slam

After upsetting No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round, Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez won her second-round match against Anna Bondar 6-2, 6-4 with an enormous amount of Turkish support in the crowd. She's now in the third-round for the second time at a Grand Slam, and will face Yulia Putintseva. Last year at Wimbledon, she became the first Turkish player to reach the final 32 at a Slam.

In Wimbledon when I was playing third round, it was similar to this, but I think today...I felt like I never experienced something like this," Sonmez said. "In Wimbledon also there were many people, and my first round here, too, there were many people. But today, I have never experienced something like this."