No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka sees off Marie Bouzkova to reach third round of Wimbledon
Three-time major champion, who has never been beyond semi-finals at Wimbledon, has golden chance to win first grass court grand slam title
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka was given a tougher workout than she would have bargained for, but the top seed methodically dismantled Czech Marie Bouzkova 7-6, 6-4 to reach the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
As the sun played hide-and-seek with the grey clouds that hovered over Centre Court, Sabalenka kept knocking on the door in the opening set but was shut out by Bouzkova each time and dropped serve with a double fault in the 11th game.
A frustrated Sabalenka let out a scream when she failed to convert a breakpoint in the following game, but she quickly composed herself to force a tiebreak with a backhand winner on her next opportunity.
The three-time grand slam champion from Belarus, who has a golden chance to claim her first Wimbledon title with several seeds losing early, led the tiebreak after a couple of errors from Bouzkova and wrapped up the set with a forehand winner.
The women’s draw was blown wide open on Tuesday when three of the top five players – French Open champion Coco Gauff, world No 3 Jessica Pegula and Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen – crashed out in a string of first-round shocks.
An untimely error at the net by Bouzkova gifted Sabalenka the break in the fifth game of the second set, and there was no looking back from there with the twice semi-finalist holding firm to close out the win.