ARYNA SABALENKA recovered from a slow start to defeat Rebecca Sramkova and maintain her unbeaten record at the Wuhan Open today.

Playing her first match since winning her fourth grand slam title at the US Open last month, Sabalenka was outplayed by Slovakian Sramkova in the opening set but improved thereafter to win 4-6 6-3 6-1.

Sabalenka, who won the title on her debut in 2018 and has added another two since in the Chinese city, said: “I have to say she played incredible tennis and especially in the first set, not much I could do against her.

“I knew after that little break it would be not that easy to get back in my rhythm but I’m really glad that in the second set I found my game and I stepped in and I think I played really great.

“I’m super happy to be back. I’ve won a lot of tournaments in China. It feels like home in this stadium and I really hope I can go all the way.”

The world number one will next face 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova.

Third seed Coco Gauff needed just 52 minutes to race through to round three, beating Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-1 6-0, but sixth seed Jessica Pegula was taken the distance by fellow American Hailey Baptiste, eventually winning 6-4 4-6 7-6 (6).

Twelfth seed Karolina Muchova became the latest player to succumb to the heat and humidity, the Czech calling it a day trailing Magdalena Frech 7-6 (1) 4-1.