“It feels like home” – two-time defending champion Sabalenka breezes past Stephens in Melbourne
Aryna Sabalenka beat Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena. She’ll face Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the next round
Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open (Virginie Bouyer/Panoramic)
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka raised the curtain on her 2025 Grand Slam year with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over former US Open champion Sloane Stephens to safely reach the second round of the Australian Open.
The Belarusian is the two-time defending champion at Melbourne Park and has now won 28 of her last 29 matches in Australia, having opened her season with an 18th WTA title in Brisbane.
Having won both of last year’s hard-court Grand Slam titles, Sabalenka has put out a strong statement that she is still very much the player to beat on this surface as she has picked up right where she left off last season.
Stephens, who last won a match at Wimbledon back in July, failed to offer much resistance despite fighting back from two breaks down in the first set.
Fuelled by her typically blistering groundstrokes and a nervous start from her opponent, Sabalenka sprinted into a 4-0 double-break lead as Stephens’ Australian Open campaign got off to the most challenging start possible.
But an effortless dominance suddenly turned ragged for the two-time defending champion as Stephens clawed both of the breaks back either side of a first hold of serve to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Yet Sabalenka quickly regained her composure to break for a third time, converting her fifth break point of a lengthy eighth game. From there, the Belarusian comfortably served out a deserved one-set lead despite an opening stanza that became more complicated than it needed to be.
The second set, however, was a straightforward affair as the world No 1 struck again in the third and fifth games en route to securing safe passage into the second round of her favoured Grand Slam.
“it feels like home” – sabalenka once again the leading lady in melbourne
“Thank you guys. I’m super happy to be back. I love this place and we have a full stadium, I mean I couldn’t dream for more,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview following victory.
“Thank you so much for coming and supporting us. I really enjoy playing in front of you every time. It was a tough match. They are always tough matches against her. I don’t feel like I played my best probably but I’m glad that I managed to close this match in straight sets.
“It [Melbourne Park] definitely feels like home.”
Having now put together a 15-match winning streak at the Australian Open, the world No 1 and double defending champion once again looks the player to beat in Melbourne this year as she prepares to take on Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second round.
The quick-playing hard courts of Australia suit Sabalenka’s already formidable game perfectly. She looks fit, healthy and very much at home at the site of her greatest success, even taking a moment to share a dance on court before departing for a warm-down and press duties.
In this type of form, and on this rapid surface, Sabalenka is yet again the Australian Open’s leading woman. It looks as though it will take something special to stop her claiming a third straight title down under.
