Sabalenka powers past Stojanovic to advance at US Open

Aryna Sabalenka kicked off her US Open campaign with a solid victory on Monday night, overcoming a second set comeback from Nina Stojanovic to reach the second round.

The second seed needed two hours and 24 minutes to secure the 6-4 6-7(4) 6-0 victory, surviving a second set hiccup to completely dominate in the final set. After cruising through through the first set, Sabalenka obtained an early break to go up 3-1 on her Serbian opponent. However, Stojanovic fought back to level the score, pushing the set to a tiebreak where she prevailed after some uncharacteristic errors from the Belarusian.

The loss of the second set seemed to galvanize Sabalenka, as she took control of the final set, completely overpowering her opponent from the baseline. The World No.2 hit an astounding 43 winners in the match, as her powerful groundstrokes proved too much for Stojanovic.

A darkhorse to lift the trophy this year, Sabalenka will face Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek in the second round.