Indian Wells: Sabalenka improves to 14-1 for the season with second round win

The Belarusian dropped just two games during her second round win over Evgeniya Rodina

Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Image Credit: Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

March 11, 2023

BNP Paribas Open •Second round • completed

See draw

E. RodinavsA. Sabalenka

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka scored a comprehensive straight sets win over Russian Evgeniya Rodina in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Friday.

The world No 2, from Belarus, needed only one hour and eight minutes to win 6-2, 6-0 and move into the third round.

Sabalenka, who also won the Adelaide 1 title in January before her Australian Open breakthrough, improved to 14 wins in 15 matches for the 2023 season, with her only loss coming to Barbora Krejcikova in the Dubai semi-finals last month.

All business 💼

No.2 seed @SabalenkaA drops only 2 games in her opening match!#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/lsLzUw45qv
— wta (@WTA) March 10, 2023

The Belarusian and the Czech woman could meet again the fourth round in Indian Wells if both players manage to reach that stage.

The Belarusian will face Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko next with a third round berth on the line.

“It was tricky game, I would say,” Sabalenka said after her win. “I didn’t expect her play that slow. I was struggling a little bit with adjusting for the balls, because it was super slow.

Rodina, a former top 70 player and now ranked No 427 in the world, is making her way back to the tour after three year break. She defeated Frenchwoman Alize Cornet (6-2, 7-5) in the first round of the Indian Wells tournament.

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other second-round matches (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8,800,000, most recent results first):