World No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka admitted she felt relieved after snapping her three-match losing streak in Charleston.
Sabalenka, seeded at No. 1, accepted a late wildcard into Charleston, hoping she would find a bit of form at the American clay court event.
As the top-seeded player, Sabalenka had a first round bye at the tournament.
On Wednesday, Sabalenka kicked off her Charleston campaign with a 7-6 (3) 6-4 win over home favorite Alison Riske 7-6 (3) 6-4.
It was Sabalenka’s first win after going winless in the last month and a half.
“I felt I’m super happy that I was able to go through that match,” Sabalenka said. “Alison is a really tough opponent – it’s never easy to play her. I’m proud that, no matter what, I stayed focused from the beginning until the end. That’s why I was able to win this one.”
Sabalenka escaped with a straight-set win over Riske
Sabalenka had the first break point of the match but failed to convert in the fourth game.
However, Sabalenka kept pressing Riske’s serve and earned the first break of the match in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead in the first set.
After earning the first break of the match, Sabalenka missed out on four set points in the ninth game as Riske broke back to get back into the opener.
As no more breaks were seen, the first set had to be resolved in a tie-break.
Luckily for Sabalenka, she was able to put past her four blown set points as she took an early 3-0 lead in the tie-break, before converting her sixth set point to win a tight opener.
Riske led 2-1 after the opening three games of the second set but Sabalenka then claimed back-to-back breaks to win four games in a row and take a 5-2 lead in the second set.
Sabalenka failed to serve out for the match in the eighth game but did so after saving four break points in the 10th game.