MELBOURNE: Tournament dark horse Aryna Sabalenka continued to talk down her Australian Open chances as she advanced to the third round Wednesday, preferring to knuckle down and concentrate on her next match.
The 11th seed’s only previous appearance at Melbourne Park last year ended in a first-round elimination but the Belarusian swept past Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-3, 6-4 to show how much she has improved in the past 12 months.
Bookies have installed the 20-year-old as one of the favourites in Melbourne on the back of sizzling recent form which saw her beat eight top 10 players late last season and win a title in Shenzhen this month.
The 20-year-old has previously dismissed title talk as “crazy” and said Wednesday she was not looking beyond her next match against unseeded American teenager Amanda Anisimova, an opponent she has never faced before.
“I just focus on each match. I just go match by match and we’ll see. I’ll do my best and who knows what will happen,“ she said.
“I just try to do better every match, improve all things and work harder. That’s enough.” — AFP
