WUHAN, China – US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka continues her winning streak at the Wuhan Open, adding 19 wins after defeating Liudmila Samsonova with a score of 6-3, 6-2 this Thursday. With this victory, Sabalenka advances to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament. The world number one’s impressive streak includes titles won in Wuhan in the years 2018, 2019, and 2024. In another notable match, Jessica Pegula managed to come back from an initial disadvantage 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, who holds the sixth seed and suffered a defeat in the China Open semifinals last week, managed to tie the decisive set at 2-2 and then dominated, winning four of the last five games to secure the victory. The victory over ninth-ranked Alexandrova comes a day after Pegula needed seven match points to overcome Hailey Baptiste, her fellow American, in the second round. This was Pegula’s sixth consecutive match decided in three sets, and the fifth time she emerged victorious.
In the night matches, it was scheduled that Iga Swiatek, ranked second, would face Belinda Bencic. Coco Gauff, ranked third and after her defeat in the semifinals against Amanda Anisimova at the China Open last week, was scheduled to play against Zhang Shuai.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
