World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka has set her sights on the top year-ending ranking, and she narrowed the gap on Iga Swiatek by winning the last WTA 1000 of the season, the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open, after defeating Zheng Qinwen, 6-3 5-7 6-3, in the final on Sunday. Really tight ranking right now. Really nice to see. I always say, of course, it’s one of the goals, but I prefer focus on myself, and just keep working hard. We’ll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become World No 1.
The 26-year old Belarusian shook off a second-set come-back to win her 3rd Wuhan Open title by outpacing the Chinese 5th seed and home favourite after a 2 hour and 40 minute battle.
“First of all I would say the conditions are probably a little bit better for her here,” Sabalenka said later. “It’s much slower, and the ball’s getting heavier. She has more things to do on the court when it’s slower.
“Honestly, I felt, like, I just lost little bit 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 third set, a bit emotional.”
Sabalenka, who knocked out former US Open champion Coco Gauff in the semi-finals on Saturday, fired 7 aces and 32 winners, and did not face a single break point in the opening set, and she now holds the most aces at WTA 1000 level this season, surpassing World No 5 Elena Rybakina.
Having won all 3 of their past meetings in straight sets, including the Australian Open final, the World No 2 lost control of the second set against the Paris Olympics Gold medallist.
Zheng had won just 13 games in 3 matches against Sabalenka to date, all of them coming at the Grand Slams, with this year’s US Open 6-1 6-2 loss being the most lopsided to date, although the match was closer than the score suggests. Zheng Qinwen was lifted by the capacity crowd and took the middle set but lost to Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s final at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center in Wuhan© Wang He/Getty Images
The Belarusian eased through the first set in 38 minutes, taking advantage of Zheng’s 42% first-serve percentage, while she put in 76% of her first strikes, losing just 5 points on her own delivery.
She extended that lead to a set and a break after gaining an early 2-1 lead in the second set, but the Chinese, who had never taken Sabalenka’s serve in their 3 prior meetings, broke back for 2-2.
With the vocal energy from the sold-out crowd of 13,000 partisans roaring, Zheng kept relentless pressure on Sabalenka’s serve to claw her way back and force a decider.
Sabalenka was forced to come up with her best tennis to save 4 break point chances to hold for 3-3, but instead of feeling deflated by her missed chance, Zheng found herself encouraged and proceeded to win 8 of the next 10 points to break the top seed for a 5-3 lead.
The Belarusian broke back, but Zheng stayed relentless, and she broke Sabalenka for the 3rd time in the set to take the match into a third.
Just when Zheng, who was eyeing to become just the second Chinese to claim a WTA 1000 title, following her idol Li Na’s triumph at 2012 Cincinnati, looked to cause an upset, Sabalenka raced out to a 3-0 double break lead in the decider.
She proved too tough in the final frame, in fact, and while Zheng did well to close the gap, holding a break point to level the set at 3-3, the Belarusian kicked a second-serve wide to her backhand, tempting the Olympic champion to go for glory, aiming to fire a return winner down the line, but the ball landed just wide, and Sabalenka held to move ahead, 4-2.
“She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics,” Zheng said. “I really look forward to training. I look forward to the next match against her.
“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.”
Sabalenka eventually converted her 3rd championship point to seal her 4th title of the year, and take her overall WTA singles haul to 17.
“That sounds crazy, and this place definitely feels like home,” Sabalenka said about the achievement. “But first of all, I want to congratulate team Zheng on an incredible week for her. Her and her team are doing an amazing job, well done. I’m pretty sure we are going to play many more finals against each other.
“And of course, thank you guys [crowd] for coming and bringing an amazing atmosphere out there. Even though you were supporting her, I really enjoyed playing in front of you. I got support throughout the tournament, so thank you so much.” Aryna Sabalenka lost control of the second set but prevailed over Zheng Qinwen to win the last WTA 1000 of the year in Wuhan© Wang He/Getty Images
A champion in 2018 and 2019, Sabalenka is the first woman to win 3 consecutive titles at Wuhan, running her unbeaten streak at the tournament to 17-0.
With her win over Zheng, Sabalenka extended her career-best streak of Top 10 victories to 6, and she is now tied with Swiatek for the most Top 10 wins this season, with each notching 9.
Sabalenka also is targeting to reclaim the top ranking in the final weeks of the season, having already qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals, along with Swiatek.
The Belarusian is now be just 69 points behind the World No 1 in the WTA rankings to be updated on Monday.
Swiatek, who missed the Wuhan Open and the China Open held in Beijing which preceded it, is in the middle of changing her coach after parting ways with Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she won 4 of her 5 Grand Slam titles.
The 23-year old Pole dropped 1100 ranking points by missing the China Open, which has allowed Sabalenka to reel in a lead which has looked unassailable for most of 2024.
Sabalenka will be 806 points ahead of Swiatek on the Race to the Finals leaderboard, accounting for the qualification points accrued this year, which gives her a healthy buffer ahead of the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh taking place from 2-9 November.
Zheng will rise to No 7 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals on Monday, and the 22-year-old is trying to become the first Chinese player to qualify for the tour’s season-ending championships since Li Na in 2013.
Last year, Sabalenka went into the WTA Finals with the No 1 ranking, only to be pipped at the post by Swiatek in the final match of the year.
“Really tight ranking right now,” Sabalenka said. “Really nice to see. I always say, of course, it’s one of the goals, but I prefer focus on myself, and just keep working hard.
“We’ll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become World No 1.” Irina Khromacheva & Anna Danilina won the Wuhan Doubles title after defeating Asia Muhammad & Jessica Pegula in Sunday’s final© Wang He/Getty Images
Unseeded Kazakh Anna Danilina & Irina Khromacheva from Russia captured the first WTA 1000 title of their careers, defeating the American pair of Asia Muhammad & Jessica Pegula, 6-3 7-6(6), in the final.
Danilina & Khromacheva have enjoyed a late-season surge to put themselves in contention for one of the final qualifying spots at the WTA Finals Riyadh.
The team entered Wuhan needing to win the title to keep their hopes alive, having started the week at No 13 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals, and will now add 1,000 points to their tally.
“We didn’t think about that definitely because, I think, to qualify, we have to win every single week we going to still play,” Khromacheva said. “But our goal was to just stay day by day.”
Danilina & Khromacheva have been a force to be reckoned with on the doubles circuit since teaming up full time over the summer.
