Tennis-Sabalenka sees off Bouzkova to reach Wimbledon third round

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka was given a tougher workout than she would have bargained for but the top seed methodically dismantled Czech Marie Bouzkova 7-6(4) 6-4 to reach the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.

As the sun played hide-and-seek with the grey clouds that hovered over Centre Court, Sabalenka kept knocking on the door in the opening set but was shut out by Bouzkova each time and dropped serve with a double fault in the 11th game. A frustrated Sabalenka let out a scream when she failed to convert a breakpoint in the following game but the 27-year-old quickly composed herself to force a tiebreak with a backhand winner on her next opportunity.

The three-times Grand Slam champion from Belarus, who has a golden chance to claim her first Wimbledon title with several seeds losing early, led the tiebreak after a couple of errors from Bouzkova and wrapped up the set with a forehand winner. An untimely error at the net by Bouzkova gifted Sabalenka the break in the fifth game of the second set and there was no looking back from there with the twice semi-finalist holding firm to close out the win.

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