Aryna Sabalenka weathers late storm to ease past Carson Branstine at Wimbledon

The Hollywood model and Canadian-American Carson Branstine was one of the more intriguing qualifying stories but in encountering World No.1, Aryna Sabalenka she soon learned her lesson at Wimbledon.

Sabalenka was out there in the blistering heat with the UK reaching 35 degrees on Monday. But she managed to weather it in a country not built for temperature of this magnitude. As is the case with the dial topping the most it ever has at Wimbledon on opening day.

Sabalenka was a bit of a conundrum coming into this year's Wimbledon. She lost early in Berlin and has only played two out of the past four Wimbledon tournaments. She made the semi-finals twice and has been earmarked as the favourite.

Albeit a lot of that comes down to the fact that in the past three years, it has been Elena Rybakina who was a top player but not favourite, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova who surprisingly won the titles. So unlike the men's tournament, it is not really a certain formula.

All three of Sabalenka's major titles have come on hard courts. She lost to Coco Gauff in the final of the French Open and will be hoping that this two weeks gives her the chance to gain a part of her collection she hasn't yet.

Branstine grew into it in the second. Sabalenka won six out of seven games in 24 minutes. The former avoided a shutout and raised her arms as if she'd won the title.

She lost the first but found her groove on her serve. Branstine though was broken at 5-5 and Sabalenka found the key and found her way through. She has never lost to a qualifier including a set in a major so far. So that run continues in SW19.

Match Statistics Sabalenka vs. Branstine