Sabalenka breaks losing streak in Charleston
Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka won for the first time since late February, defeating Alison Riske 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 at the Charleston Open on Thursday (AEST).
Losing her opening matches at the sunshine double of Miami and Indian Wells, after only taking five games off Iga Swiatek at the quarter-final in Doha, the world number five improved her head-to-head record with Riske to 5-0.
Sabalenka by no means cruised to victory, though, failing to close the match out at 5-2 in the second set. Riske had four break points to level at 5-5, but the 23-year-old powered through when she needed to, eventually closing out after an hour and 49 minutes.
Second-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain and ninth-seeded American Madison Keys also advanced to the third round at Charleston, with respective wins over Anna Bondar and Ulrikke Eikeri.
Badosa, who made the semi-finals in Charleston last year, overcame a mid-match rain delay to eventually win in an hour and 35 minutes.
Jessica Pegula continued her positive run of form after making the semi-finals in Miami, accounting for Jasmine Paolini with a 6-2 6-1 victory.
Other seeded winners included Belinda Bencic and Alize Cornet, while Elina Rybakina, Ajla Tomljanovic and Shuai Zhang were among seeds who lost on Wednesday.
The weather in South Carolina continued to be a problem at the first WTA clay-court event this season, however, as the match between Ons Jabeur and Emma Navarro was suspended due to heavy rain.
Meanwhile at the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota, Rebecca Peterson was the only seeded player in action on Wednesday, and lost 6-1 6-4 to Germany's Tatjana Maria.
