Big-hitting Aryna Sabalenka was too strong for Ashleigh Barty in the opening match of the WTA Elite Trophy in China on Tuesday, taking the match 6-4, 6-4.
The tournament’s youngest player produced some typically aggressive tennis in Zhuhai, showing the form that has seen her shoot up the world rankings from the 39th to the 12th place in just three months.
Belarus’s Sabalenka, 20, made the most of breaking Australian Barty, 22, in the very first game of the match, seeing out a nip-and-tuck opening set 6-4.
In-form Sabalenka looked the more confident of the two in the early stages, and held her nerve to pull out her first two aces to clinch the set.
Barty took the initiative in the second set, breaking in the fourth game, only for Sabalenka to break back in Barty’s two following service games.
The pair produced some thrilling base-line battles for the spectators at the Hengqin International Tennis Center, but Sabalenka turned the screw to see out the match in one hour, 26 minutes.
Now in its fourth year the Elite Trophy features 12 players ranked roughly from nine to 20. This year’s total prize money is USD $2.35 million (2.07 million euro) across the singles and doubles tournaments.
Sabalenka and Barty’s clash was their first round robin match, with both yet to play eighth seed and world number 18 Caroline Garcia from France.
Kasatkina wins a thriller against Qiang
Top seed Daria Kasatkina survived a scare on Tuesday to claim victory over crowd favourite Wang Qiang in a thrilling contest, taking the match 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.
The 21-year-old Russian looked totally dominant in the early stages in Zhuhai, wrapping up the first set against the Chinese eleventh seed in just 26 minutes.
But the vocal supporters at the Hengqin International Tennis Center were given something to cheer about when Wang, 26, broke all four of Kasatkina’s service games to claim the second set.
The deciding set saw some breathtaking points and rallies as each player tried to break the deadlock, but nerves appeared to take hold as both failed to win almost any of their service games.
Finally, after almost two hours on court, it was Kasatkina who held on to her serve at the crucial time to take the third and final set 7-5.
Tuesday night’s clash was their first round robin match, with both yet to play American Madison Keys, ranked 16th in the world.
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