Sabalenka implodes against Peterson as Bencic wins in Sydney

Many thought Aryna Sabalenka would be a legitimate threat to Ashleigh Barty for the world number one ranking but the Belarussian is having an abysmal start to the season. She lost both of her matches with a very worrying trend in both of these matches. Sabalenka is struggling with her serve not being able to hit it consistently.

Last week she had 18 doubles fault and against Peterson, she had 21. It got so bad at a time that she resorted to underarm serves just to get the ball into the court and play. Ultimately she was not able to overcome those issues as Peters was able to turn a loss of the first set into a comeback victory.

Things went a lot smoother for Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. She stepped out in Sydney to face Haddad Maia from Brasil and it was a rather straightforward match. The conditions suit Bencic quite a lot in Sydney and she proved it by playing very good tennis from the start.

The Brasilian could offer only limited resistance and Bencic was able to cruise 6-3 6-2. A good start for the Swiss player who could be a player to watch at the Australian Open. If her form peaks like during the Olympics she could be a threat for a deep run.