World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka picked up her first win since the Australian Open semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over qualifier Veronika Kudermetova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday night.

Dubai: Draws | Scores | Order of play 

Coming into Dubai, Sabalenka had lost her last two matches -- the Australian Open final to Madison Keys and her Doha opener against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

But the top seed refused to let that streak get out of hand, besting former Top 10 player Kudermetova in 1 hour and 50 minutes on a rain-plagued Tuesday in Dubai. Sabalenka ekes ahead 4-2 in their head-to-head with the win.

"I'm really glad that I was able to play today, to win this match," Sabalenka said. "I'm happy to be through this tough match against Veronika."

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After a long wait to get on court, the rain nearly derailed this match again with a brief sprinkle early in the first set. But the precipitation moved through, which allowed Sabalenka to win four straight games from a break down and lead 4-1.

From there, the No. 1 seed held on for the one-set lead, putting the three-time Grand Slam champion on the verge of returning to the winner's circle. Sabalenka had 15 winners to Kudermetova's 10 in the first set.

The pair exchanged breaks in the second set before Sabalenka took charge with one last break for 5-4. Kudermetova had a break point in that game, but Sabalenka erased that chance with a booming serve and went on to close out the match.

"It's always like a roller coaster of a game with [Kudermetova]," Sabalenka said. "That's why I'm happy with the way I stayed focused today. No matter how she played, I was there fighting, trying to stay focused on myself and on my game."

Clara Tauson of Denmark will be Sabalenka's Round of 16 opponent. Tauson squeaked past former World No. 3 Elina Svitolina 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4) in a 2-hour and 41-minute affair that ended after 12:40 a.m. local time.

After injuries adversely affected her last few seasons, 22-year-old Tauson is nearly all the way back up to her career-high ranking of No. 33 which she set as a teenager in 2022.

Tauson won the Hobart title to start this year, defeating eventual Australian Open champion Madison Keys en route -- making her the only player to defeat Keys so far this year.

Sabalenka, though, was the first player to defeat Tauson this year. The World No. 1 took out the Dane in two close sets in the third round of the Australian Open.

Tauson squeaks past Svitolina in third-set tiebreak at Dubai

Rain delays: At the end of a long Tuesday, four second-round matches never started and were pushed to Wednesday. All four of those matches will be first-up on the four match courts, with the winners scheduled to play again later in the day.

No. 7 seed and reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen will lead off Wednesday's Center Court play when she takes on Peyton Stearns. This was originally scheduled for a Center Court Tuesday night showdown.

The winner of that match will face the winner of another delayed match between No. 12 seed Mirra Andreeva and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

The two other postponed second-round matches are No. 8 seed Emma Navarro vs. Belinda Bencic, and Sorana Cirstea vs. Alycia Parks. The winners of those matches will also play each other later on Wednesday.