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Sabalenka beats van Uytvanck in St. Petersburg opener

January 31, 2019 GMT

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus returns the ball to Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium during the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy-2019 tennis tournament match in St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka recovered from a second-set slipup to reach the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinals on Thursday, beating Alison van Uytvanck 6-1, 6-4.

In her first match since reaching a career-high ranking of No. 10 on Monday, the Belarusian trailed 3-1 in the second before winning four games in a row.

Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye, will next face Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat qualifier Tereza Martincova 7-5, 6-2.

Sabalenka defeated Alexandrova 6-3, 6-3 this month on her way to winning the Shenzhen Open title.

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