US Open: Aryna Sabalenka flies past Polina Iatcenko in 54 minutes to reach third round as dominant start continues

Aryna Sabalenka isn't having any issues whatsoever in New York.

Sabalenka, after significant issues at earlier Grand Slams this year, rolled into the third round of the US Open with ease on Wednesday night. She cruised to a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over Polina Iatcenko at Arthur Ashe Stadium. And she only needed 54 minutes to do so.

It marked her second straight sets victory so far at the US Open, following a slightly less dominant win over Camila Osorio in the opening round. Sabalenka will now take on Kamilla Rakhimova in the third round. Rakhimova beat Oksana Selekhmeteva in straight sets in her second-round match.

Sabalenka looked unstoppable in the first set, and rolled to a dominant 5-0 lead before Iatcenko managed to find a little bit of stability in the match. Up until that point. Sabalenka had only dropped seven total points. There was nothing Iatcenko could do.

Iatcenko got on the board finally with a narrow win in the sixth game, but that was all she could manage. Sabalenka won the next four points, and wasted no time doing it, to close out the first set in less than 25 minutes.

The second set didn't get any petter for Iatcenko. Sabalenka broke her serve to get things started, and then rolled through the second game without giving up a point to take a 2-0 lead instantly.

Sabalenka gave up a single game again in the second set, but that was it. She responded by winning seven straight points to take control out the match back almost instantly after that.

Sabalenka has won three singles titles already in 2026, and she made it all the way to the Australian Open final back in January. But the other two Grand Slam outings weren't great. She was knocked out of the French Open in the quarterfinals, and Naomi Osaka got her in straight sets at Wimbledon. After her French Open loss, Sabalenka was so frustrated that she said she just wanted "to quit tennis right now" altogether .

Clearly, her issues in Europe didn't carry over into the US Open. Sabalenka maintained her No. 1 WTA ranking and was the favorite entering the final Grand Slam of the season. Wednesday's match was just further proof of how much of a dominant force she is in the sport, and how hard its going to be to slow her down if this continues.

Sabalenka is off to the perfect start in New York.