Aryna Sabalenka Dominates Polina Iatcenko at Flushing Meadows
NEW YORK – Under the lights at Flushing Meadows, Aryna Sabalenka didn’t so much advance as storm through.
The top seed tore past Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday night, a brutal, one-sided reminder of why she owns this court and this fortnight. The scoreboard barely had time to breathe. The crowd did.
“Night atmosphere is always the best atmosphere,” Sabalenka said afterward, and she played like someone who feeds off every decibel.
This was a mismatch on paper and looked even harsher in real time. Iatcenko, a 22-year-old making her debut in a Grand Slam singles main draw, arrived ranked 160 in the world and left with a ruthless education in elite power tennis. Sabalenka slapped winners at will, stepping inside the baseline, taking time away, dictating every exchange as if she were hitting on the practice court.
She opened with a 5-0 lead before Iatcenko finally got on the board, a brief pause in a first set that lasted just 24 minutes. Sabalenka dropped only four points on serve in that opener, a statistic that said everything about the gulf between them. The No. 1 seed never looked rushed, never looked troubled, and never looked inclined to offer charity.
The second set brought Iatcenko her lone bright spot: a single break of serve that produced her only game of the set. Sabalenka’s answer was ruthless. She immediately reset, reeled off the next three games, and closed the match with the same cold efficiency that had defined the night.
This was her 15th straight win at Flushing Meadows, a streak befitting a four-time Grand Slam champion who has lifted the trophy in New York the past two years. The hard courts here suit her heavy game and explosive movement, and the stadium’s energy seems to sharpen her instincts rather than rattle them.
Yet the dominance in Queens comes on the back of a patchy stretch. Sabalenka’s season has carried more turbulence than her record in New York suggests. Disappointing exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, plus underwhelming results at the hard-court warmups, raised questions about form and fatigue.
On this night, those doubts felt distant.
She spoke of a shift that goes beyond ball-striking. Sabalenka said she feels “way stronger than I was in the middle of the season” mentally, and physically more secure. The perfectionist edge that once cut both ways has, for now, been blunted.
“I’m happy with my level. I’ve been working really hard, but I feel like I’m moving away from trying to be perfect on court,” she said. “I know that you cannot be perfect, and I’m just trying to work with what I have right now.”
What she has right now looks more than enough.
Next comes 92nd-ranked Kamilla Rakhhimova of Uzbekistan in the third round, a different test but one Sabalenka will enter as an overwhelming favorite. The defending champion is back in her element, under the New York lights, swinging freely.
If this is her “imperfect,” the rest of the draw has a problem.
