No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka had to fend off a spirited challenge from Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew before notching a 6-4, 6-1 win in the second round of the China Open on Saturday.

Reigning US Open champion Sabalenka had her hands full with rising 22-year-old Sawangkaew for large portions of the encounter, but the World No.2 prevailed after 76 minutes of play and collected her 13th straight match-win on the Hologic WTA Tour.

"In the first set, I was struggling a little bit with the rhythm," Sabalenka said afterwards. "In the second set, seems like everything started working much better. ... I think that's why it was more smooth and better quality."

Searching for Beijing glory: Sabalenka has posted many of her best efforts in China, where she has won four of her 16 career WTA singles titles.

Since the WTA 1000 tier began in 2009, no player has a better winning percentage at WTA 1000 tournaments in China than Sabalenka, with an 85.7 percent success rate at those events.

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"I'm having a lot of great memories from the past," Sabalenka said. "I don't even know how many tournaments I won in China. It's always great to come back and feel the atmosphere, feel the vibe, knowing that I kind of gain my fan club here.

"It gives me more motivation to go there and compete and bring my best tennis and make sure I stay till the last stages of the tournament, so I can enjoy this atmosphere as much as possible."

Despite those achievements in the country as a whole, Sabalenka has yet to take home the trophy in Beijing. Two quarterfinal runs, in 2018 and last year, are her best results in the Chinese capital.

Match moments: Sabalenka moved one step closer to her first Beijing crown on Saturday, but not before Sawangkaew challenged the three-time Grand Slam champion with outstanding speed, relentless defense and crafty winners.

World No.187 Sawangkaew made her tour-level debut last week in Hua Hin, and she earned her first tour-level win in this week's opening round over Zarina Diyas. The Thai brought her surging form into her first meeting with a Top 80 player, let alone the World No.2.

Sawangkaew found the lines in a dizzying rally to come back from a break down at 4-3 in the first set. The qualifier stayed with the top seed until the very end of the opener, but Sabalenka finally put the hammer down with a pristine return winner on her second set point.

The second set was closer than the scoreline and Sawangkaew had two break points to pull back on serve at 3-2, but massive serves and forehands by Sabalenka kept her out in front with a hold for 4-1. Sabalenka saved one last break point in the final game before clinching the win.

Sabalenka’s power plays accumulated during the latter stages of the second set and she finished the match with 35 winners to Sawangkaew’s 14. Sabalenka was 4-for-7 on break points while Sawangkaew converted one of her four.

"When you see the opponent putting so much tricky balls back, you have to come up with something else," Sabalenka said. "It can be tricky. I actually had fun in those highlight points, I would say."