Aryna Sabalenka has had a dismal start to her Asian swing. She suffered a shocking 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Nikola Bartunkova in the Round of 32 and failed to capitalize on Elena Rybakina’s early exit. A deep run here could have seen Sabalenka close the gap to the Kazakh on the rankings, but that didn’t quite happen. Prominent tennis coach Rick Macci believes that the lack of success this season has impacted Sabalenka mentally and advised her to reevaluate her game.

“Sabalenka needs to look in the mirror and she has the answer,” he wrote on X. “She has the game but mentally not the same. She can no doubt flip the switch if she still has the never say die dominate itch. There is a fine line in winning / losing and putting a new trophy on the shelf but the Belarus Bomber has to STOP COMPETING AGAINST HERSELF.”

Despite starting the tournament on a high and defeating Renata Zarazua 6-1, 6-3, Sabalenka completely crumbled in the very next match. She wasn’t able to gain even a single break of serve as the 20-year-old Bartunkova capitalized on her errors and handed her a painful loss.

After losing the first set, Sabalenka was expected to give a better challenge to Bartunkova in the next set. But it was the opposite that happened, as the Belarusian suffered an early break of serve and then lost her cool. She smashed her racket on the surface multiple times. Though it didn’t shatter into pieces, the incident showed that Sabalenka’s frustration was boiling over.

Bartunkova performed even better in the second set, stunning the World No. 2 in an hour and 35 minutes. It wasn’t a surprise that the Czech labelled it as the biggest win of her career so far.

“It is the biggest win of my career,” she said after the match. “It was very difficult conditions for today because half of the court was very cold and very windy. And the other side was very hot and opposite. It was very difficult conditions for both of us. It could be better for sure, especially on my serve. But it was because of the windy and it was cold. So, that’s why I think my percentage of my serve was at the low.”

Bartunkova came close to upsetting Sabalenka earlier this year at the Berlin Open. She did provide her with a strong challenge in the quarterfinals, but eventually succumbed to a 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat. Having played the youngster twice this season, Sabalenka believes that her serve and movement on the court make her a formidable player.

“She is very talented, and moves well on court,” she said in her post-match interview. “She also serves well so you have to convert your chances against her. She can serve really well and to return from shade or sun is tricky. I wasn’t good at this today.”

The external conditions in Beijing also played a role in Sabalenka’s defeat. The partial shade on the court made things a little tricky for her. This has been a recurring theme with the Belarusian this year, as she has failed to adapt to the conditions.

The best example of this was seen at the French Open, where Sabalenka took on Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. The conditions around the court suddenly became windy when Sabalenka was a game away from winning the match. The roof of the court wasn’t closed, so the players had no choice but to adapt.

While Shnaider adapted to the wind, her opponent’s game deteriorated massively. Not only did she lose the second set, but she also got bagelled in the decider, losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Sabalenka will be aiming to bring this pattern to an end as soon as possible, so that the outside conditions don’t affect her game and she can counter them.