In an exciting match at the Wuhan Open, Jessica Pegula achieved a close victory, after overcoming Hailey Baptiste in a decisive tiebreak. The tennis player, ranked sixth, won with scores of 6-4, 4-6 and 7-6 (6), securing her place in the third round. Pegula, who previously participated in the China Open semifinals, will face Ekaterina Alexandrova, the ninth seed, in the next phase. Alexandrova advanced after defeating Ann Li with a score of 7-6 (5), 6-2. Coco Gauff, ranked third, also advanced easily to the next round, demonstrating her dominance with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Moyuka Uchijima in just 51 minutes. Gauff was coming off a semifinal loss against Amanda Anisimova at the China Open. On the other hand, Naomi Osaka, ranked eleventh, suffered a surprising defeat against Linda Noskova, who was unseeded, with a score of 7-6 (2), 6-3. Noskova, who was previously defeated by Anisimova in the final of the China Open, will face Jaqueline Cristian or Elena Rybakina in her next match. Liudmila Samsonova, ranked sixteenth, demonstrated her resilience by defeating Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. In addition, Kateřina Siniaková, coming from the qualifying phase, secured a victory over Maya Joint with a result of 6-3, 6-1. In the third round, Samsonova will face Aryna Sabalenka, the current US Open champion, who defeated Rebecca Sramkova with scores of 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Sabalenka, world number one, has had an outstanding performance in Wuhan, accumulating a record of 18-0 and conquering titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024. After her victory at Flushing Meadows, the tennis player took a break and was absent from the China Open.
Sabalenka managed to break her opponent’s serve, ranked 68th, in the first game of the final set and secured the victory in almost two hours by converting her second match point. After Sramkova broke Sabalenka’s serve twice to win the first set, Sabalenka began her comeback with a break in the fourth game of the second set and took a 4-1 lead. In the seventh game, she saved four break points. Karolina Muchova became the latest player to retire due to the heat and humidity, abandoning her match when losing against Magdalena Frech with a score of 7-6 (1), 4-1.I knew that after that little break… it wouldn’t be so easy to get my rhythm back. I’m very happy that I found my game in the second set and that I stepped up, I think I played very well. I’m very 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
