Aryna Sabalenka Dominates Polina Iatcenko at US Open

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 ruthless, 59-minute reminder of why New York has become her personal fortress. Winners flew off the Sabalenka racket almost at will, the ball exploding through the court and giving the 22-year-old Grand Slam debutant little more than a front-row seat to her own dismantling.

“Night atmosphere is always the best atmosphere,” Sabalenka said, and she played like someone feeding off every decibel.

A four-time Grand Slam champion and the winner of the last two US Opens, Sabalenka has built an aura on these hard courts. Fifteen straight wins now at Flushing Meadows. Fifteen. Yet the road into this tournament has been anything but smooth. Disappointing exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, followed by flat, unconvincing showings during the North American hard court swing, had raised questions about her form and, more importantly, her edge.

Those questions did not survive long against the world No. 160.

Sabalenka burst out to a 5-0 lead before Iatcenko finally got on the board, a mercy game more than a foothold. The Belarusian dropped just four points on serve in the opening set, her delivery rock-solid, the first strike doing most of the talking. Iatcenko, playing her first main-draw singles match at a major, simply couldn’t cope with the pace or the depth.

The pattern barely shifted in the second set. Sabalenka suffered one brief lapse, surrendering a break that handed Iatcenko her only game of the set. Any hint of a momentum swing vanished immediately. Sabalenka snapped back, reeling off the next three games and slamming the door with the same authority she’d shown from the start.

This was not the tense, searching version of Sabalenka seen in mid-season. This was the New York version: clear, aggressive, unapologetic.

Having booked her spot in the third round, Sabalenka spoke less about dominance and more about evolution. She described herself as mentally “way stronger than I was in the middle of the season” and said her body has come along with it. The physical work, she insisted, is matching the mental reset.

“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.”

It sounded like a small shift. It might be the biggest change of all.

Next up is 92nd-ranked Kamilla Rakhhimova of Uzbekistan in the third round, a different test, a higher step. Sabalenka has made this city her stage for two years running. Now, with the doubts of the summer pushed firmly into the background, the question is simple: who stops her here?