\u201cThat exhibition, it was fun [….] It was a great challenge,\u201d says Belarusian tennis star
\n BRISBANE
\nAryna Sabalenka said her much-maligned exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios had paid dividends as she demolished Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday to launch her Australian Open preparations.
\nThe world number one took just 48 minutes to dispose of the Spaniard 6-0, 6-1 in the second round of the season-opening Brisbane International.
\nThe ease of the win against the world number 50 will send a warning to the Belarusian\u2019s rivals ahead of the Australian Open starting January 18.
\nShe raced through the first set in just 22 minutes and took only 26 minutes to claim the second against an opponent who had no answer to the power of the 27-year-old.
\nSabalenka said the fact that she played so well in her first match of the season showed that the December 28 exhibition in Dubai against the mercurial but controversial Kyrgios was worthwhile.
\n\u201cI mean, when you play against a guy, the intensity is completely different,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cEspecially when there is Nick, who is drop-shotting every other shot, so you move a lot, so there was a great fitness for me.
\n\u201cAnd today I was, like, whew, let\u2019s move around, you know. \u201cThat exhibition, it was fun. It was a great challenge,\u201d she added.
\n\u201cI think we brought so many eyes on tennis. It wasn\u2019t about proving something to anyone, it was able to show that tennis can be really huge.\u201d
\nSabalenka will now play either Jelena Ostapenko or Sorana Cirstea in the third round and remains on track to meet Madison Keys in the quarter-finals in a rematch of last year\u2019s Australian Open final, won by the American.
\nKeys reached the Brisbane third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fellow American McCartney Kessler.
\nLike Sabalenka, Keys had a bye into the second round and said she had found it tough to find her rhythm early on.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s sometimes a little bit harder when the person you\u2019re playing has already played a match, and then you\u2019re kind of trying to still knock off a bit of the rust,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cI felt like it took a little bit just to find my rhythm, but I feel like once I did it, I kind of settled in a little bit better.\u201d
\nThere were two major upsets in the men\u2019s draw, with second-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Canada\u2019s fifth seed, Denis Shapovalov, both losing.
\nAmerican Brandon Nakashima downed Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (7\/4), 6-4, while Belgian qualifier Raphael Collignon beat Shapovalov 6-4, 6-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThat exhibition, it was fun [….] It was a great challenge,\u201d says Belarusian tennis star BRISBANE Aryna Sabalenka said her much-maligned exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios had paid dividends as she demolished Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday to launch her Australian Open preparations. The world number one took just 48 minutes to dispose of the Spaniard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n