After a fierce battle, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Zheng Qinwen to win her straight Wuhan Open title.
The world no. 2 took over home favourite Zheng 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. With this win, she achieved her second WTA 1000 title of the season and the seventh of her career. Moreover, Sabalenka is the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times in a row, and she extends her undefeated run at the competition to 17-0, also improving to 4-0 in her matches against Zheng.
Salabenka said: “I felt like I just lost a little bit of focus and I let her come back in the match… I got a little bit frustrated there. It became a three-set match. Balls are getting heavier, it’s the third set, a bit emotional.”
The athlete has now won four titles in the 2024 season, including the Australian Open and US Open. Five of her 17 career titles have come in China, also an Open Era record according to WTA.
In a social media post, Sabalenka wrote: “Third time’s the charm! 😉🏆 Thank you @wuhanopenwta for all of the love and support during this past week 🫶”
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Zheng Qinwen: “There’s more room for improvement”
Zheng, a gold medallist at Paris 2024, was aiming to be the second Chinese player to win a WTA 1000 event, after Li Na’s victory in Cincinnati in 2012.
She is the first Chinese woman to ever advance to a WTA 1000 final in her home country. She feels encouraged because she won a set against Sabalenka for the first time, even though she lost.
Zheng admitted: “She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics… I really look forward to training. I look forward to the next match against her.”
She added: “After this loss, I’m feeling excited because I am doing better each time. There’s more room for improvement. I hope that I can close the gap and also can overcome this challenge.”
Zheng moves up to world no. 7 because she reached the Wuhan final. The top seven players will automatically advance to the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Source: CNN