Pegula and Gauff Advance in the Wuhan Open; Osaka Surprised
American tennis player Jessica Pegula overcame a challenging match against her compatriot Hailey Baptiste at the Wuhan Open, securing her spot in the next round. Pegula, seeded number six, won with a score of 6-4, 4-6 and 7-6 (6), achieving victory on her seventh match point. Her next rival will be Ekaterina Alexandrova, ninth seed. Coco Gauff, the world number three, demonstrated her superiority by defeating Moyuka Uchijima with a resounding 6-1 and 6-0 in just 51 minutes. Gauff, who comes from a semi-final in the China Open, continues strong in the tournament. The surprise of the day was delivered by Linda Noskova, who eliminated Naomi Osaka, ranked eleventh, with a score of 7-6 (2) and 6-3. Noskova, 20 years old, will face Jaqueline Cristian or Elena Rybakina in the next round. Liudmila Samsonova, seeded number 16, came back to beat Sofia Kenin with scores of 3-6, 6-3 and 6-1. In addition, Kateřina Siniaková, coming from the qualifying round, also advanced by defeating Maya Joint 6-3 and 6-1. In the third round, Samsonova will face Aryna Sabalenka, the current US Open champion, who defeated Rebecca Sramkova with a score of 4-6, 6-3, and 6-1. Sabalenka, world number one, has had an impressive performance in Wuhan, with an 18-0 record and titles in 2018, 2019, and 2024. After winning the US Open, she took a break and withdrew from the China Open.Sabalenka managed to break her opponent’s serve, ranked 68th, in the first game of the final set and converted her second match point to win in almost two hours. Karolina Muchova was forced to retire from her match against Magdalena Frech due to the heat and humidity, when she was losing 7-6 (1) and 4-1.I knew that after that little break… it wouldn’t be easy to get back into my rhythm. I’m very happy that in the second set I found my game and took a step forward, and I think I played very well,” said Sabalenka. “I’m super happy to be back. I’ve won many tournaments in China. It feels like home in this stadium, and I really hope I can go all the way.
Aryna Sabalenka
