Brisbane International: World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka opens season, eases past Cristina Bucsa

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka has eased through her opener at the Brisbane International with the Belarusian firing past Cristina Bucsa in just 48 minutes 6-0, 6-1 in the second round.

The ease of this win will no doubt send a warning to Sabalenka's rivals ahead of the Australian Open which begins on January 18. She raced through the opener in just 22 minutes and took just 26 minutes to close the second set only losing one game as the Spaniard had no answer to the power and prowess of her opponent.

It is technically not the first match of her season with Sabalenka playing in the much maligned exhibition against Nick Kyrgios last week dubbed the Battle of the Sexes but post match she said that it proved to be a worthwhile exercise in the end for her.

One that in her view helped her prepare for this tie and also likely the fact she lost that tie meaning that she wanted to go out there and prove a point in facing off against Bucsa in her opener as she heads towards the Australian Open in just a few weeks time.

"I mean, when you play against a guy, the intensity is completely different," she said. "Especially when there is Nick, who is drop-shotting every other shot, so you move a lot, so there was a great fitness for me.

"And today I was, like, whew, let's move around, you know. That exhibition, it was fun. It was a great challenge," she added.

"I think we brought so many eyes on tennis. It wasn't about proving something to anyone, it was able to show that tennis can be really huge."

She now faces the retiring Sorana Cirstea in the next round who saw off Jelena Ostapenko later in the evening and continues to show no signs of letting up despite the fact that she is leaving the sport but wishes to do so on more of a high and she is doing just that.

Likely Madison Keys awaits in the latter stages in the Quarter-Finals in a rematch of the tie won by the American in the Australian Open Final. Keys saw off another American in her tie as she saw off McCartney Kessler 6-4, 6-3. 

Other results included a now Russian v Austrian battle as Diana Shnaider toppled Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-3 fairly comfortably with Daria Kasatkina being beaten by Potapova in the first round and going through to face Shnaider was a conundrum she couldn't overcome. But now Shnaider who will hope for a better season that 2025 where she floundered after heading towards the top 10 has a good opening few wins. Sofia Kenin lost out to Ekaterina Alexandrova with the top 10 star winning through 7-6, 6-3. 

While like alluded to Cirstea won 6-2, 7-6 against Ostapenko. Karolina Muchova has just opened her tie against Ajla Tomljanovic while Marie Bouzkova takes on Paula Badosa and finally WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina fully begins her year after a short stint in the World Tennis Continental Cup by taking on Shuai Zhang.