Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek Advance in Wuhan
US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka continues her winning streak at the Wuhan Open, adding her nineteenth consecutive victory after defeating Liudmila Samsonova with a score of 6-3, 6-2. This result secures her a place in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament. Sabalenka’s impressive streak includes titles won in Wuhan in 2018, 2019, and 2024, solidifying her dominance in this tournament. Iga Swiatek, ranked second, also secured her advance by defeating Belinda Bencic with a score of 7-6 (2), 6-4. Swiatek maintains a favorable 5-1 head-to-head record against Bencic in their career, including a straight-sets victory in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July. In the quarterfinals, Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina, the eighth seed, who secured the victory over Linda Noskova with a score of 6-3, 6-4. Rybakina is looking to secure her participation in the WTA Finals event in Saudi Arabia. Swiatek’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Jasmine Paolini, who advanced after Clara Tauson retired, when the score was 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 in favor of Paolini. In another notable match, Jessica Pegula managed to recover from an initial service break in the third set to defeat Ekaterina Alexandrova with a score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, securing her place in the quarterfinals. Pegula, the sixth seed, tied the decisive set at 2-2 and then won four of the last five games to secure the victory. The victory over Alexandrova came a day after Pegula needed seven match points to defeat Hailey Baptiste in the second round. This was Pegula’s sixth consecutive three-set match, and the fifth time she emerged victorious.In the afternoon match, Coco Gauff, ranked third, defeated Zhang Shuai with a score of 6-3, 6-2. Gauff was coming off a semifinal loss to Amanda Anisimova at the China Open last week.“I don’t remember the last time I played two sets,” Pegula commented. “But I’ve been competing very hard and I’ve been playing against very good players. Today the conditions were different with the roof closed, and I think it took us a while to adapt.”
Jessica Pegula
