In her debut at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open, Aryna Sabalenka was unstoppable, overcoming Anett Kontaveit in the championship match and Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals.
She repeated as the table-setter the next year, winning a three-set final against Alison Riske-Amritraj and another Barty semifinal.
That second title came five years ago, and the Wuhan Open had been on sabbatical since then. But now it’s back, with main-draw action unfolding Monday.
It appears as though someone pressed the pause button, as top seed and two-time reigning champion Sabalenka finds herself attempting to complete the uncommon triple.
Prior to the event on Sunday in Wuhan, Sabalenka said to reporters, “It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” “It was an extremely memorable moment for me to win Wuhan for the first time.” and taking home the trophy twice in a row, I was devastated that I was unable to return the following year.
“Returning home truly makes everything feel like home. I have some pretty lovely old recollections. I sincerely hope I can achieve the same outcome as in 2019.
Sabalenka’s hard-court season has been fantastic. Her two Grand Slam victories of the season came from her victories in Cincinnati and New York. Before Karolina Muchova ended her winning run in the China Open quarterfinals, she had won 15 straight matches.
The top eight seeds in this 56-player draw get a bye into the second round. Following her bye, Sabalenka will play World No. 37 Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic or Filipina wild card Alexandra Eala. In the main draw, Sabalenka is one of seven players ranked in the Top 10 (and fifteen from the Top 20).
Predicted quarterfinal pairings, if the seeding hold:
Nos. 1–6 Sabalenka–Nos. 4 Coco Gauff–Nos. 8 Daria Kasatkina, No. 3 No. 5 Zheng Qinwen is Jasmine Paolini, and No. 2 Jessica Pegula is No. 7. Krejcikova Barbora.
With just one week left in the PIF Race to the WTA Finals in Riyadh, players have their best opportunity to improve their standings at the tenth and final WTA 1000 event of the season.
To cut a long tale short, Zheng (3,460), Kasatkina (2,818), Paula Badosa (2,714), and Anna Kalinskaya (2,590) are the four players in the Wuhan draw who are chasing Navarro, who now has 3,568 points to secure the final qualifying slot.
The second seed With 4,586 points, Jessica Pegula is ranked No. 6 in the Race rankings. Her incredible late-season performance has catapulted her into the conversation. Her recollections of Wuhan, umm.
“I believe I lost 6-0, 6-1 the last time I was in Wuhan,” Pegula remarked. Pegula, who was rated 76 at the time, lost to Polona Hercog, who was ranked 52, in a 2019 first-round match.
Pegula grinned and remarked, “Maybe winning more than one game will be the challenge.” “I’m obviously playing a lot better than when I visited Wuhan the last time. I’m attempting to make amends by surpassing 2019 in my performance.
It’s amusing since it happened so long ago. In a way, it does feel like a novel experience.
In the PIF WTA Race standings, Sabalenka is about to overtake World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and close the deficit in the rankings. She makes an effort, nevertheless, to ignore it.
Naturally, a Wuhan reporter questioned her if that was something she thought about frequently.
Actually, Sabalenka answered. “I’m not the one paying attention to the rankings. It goes without saying that I truly want this. This is among my objectives. I’ve discovered that when you put too much pressure on yourself to defend points or focus on ranking, things can quickly go awry. I would rather concentrate on myself.
“I know that I’m willing to become World No. 1 if I can play the best tennis I can.”
