Sabalenka needs six match points to start with a win

Aryna Sabalenka took the long way to victory on Sunday, with the top seed needing six match points to advance in her opening match at the Cincinnati Masters.

The world No. 1 who is holding off Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina, managed to go past Talia Gibson  6-2, 7-6 (2) after the Aussie saved five match points in the first game of the second set before it went into a tiebreaker.when Sabalenka was broken,

But the four-time winner at the major charged back in the decider to move ahead at the tournament she won two years ago.

 “I’m super tired, this is crazy weather,” the winner said. “Talia played great tennis and was more aggressive in the second set.

“She put more pressure on my service games.I”m glad I stayed calm and pulled it out in straight sets.”

Sabalenka completed a winning trio of current and former Grand Slam champions at the final tune-up event before the start of the US Open in a fortnight.

Aussie Open champion Rybakina and Roland Garros titleholder Mirra Andreeva also reaching the third round.

Second seed Rybakina defeated Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4 while Andreeva beat Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-0 in barely an hour.

Rybakina, losing finalist to Iga Swiatek this week in Toronto, is already looking ahead.

“Today I’m happy with the serve,” the Kazakh said. “Definitely it helped me a lot. Last week in Toronto was very difficult. A lot of three set matches.”

Swiatek, the Cincinnati defending champion, beat Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-0 in 71 minutes .

“It was necessary to get to know the court,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy I was patient. I came out for the second set knowing what I needed to improve. Things went pretty smoothly after that.