WUHAN, October 10, 2024 (Press Release)
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka came from a set down against Yulia Putintseva on Thursday to keep up her unbeaten record at the DONGFENG VOYAH · WUHAN OPEN 2024 and take a step closer to her ambition of ending this season as World No.1.
World No. 2 Sabalenka won the Wuhan title in 2018 and 2019 but she looked out of sorts in the first set against Putintseva and was made to fight hard before prevailing with a 16 64 60 win to reach the quarter-finals of the last WTA 1000 tournament of the season.
Champions adjust.@SabalenkaA recovers from a slow start to extend her #WuhanOpen record to 14-0 and reach the quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/jv6JD6gN0k
— wta (@WTA) October 10, 2024
“That was really difficult battle,” said Sabalenka, who plays Magdalena Frech on Friday following Frech’s upset 63 62 win over ninth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. “Yulia always puts up a great fight. I had to work really hard to get this win. In the first set, seems like whatever she would do would play well for her. I was all over the place. I’m really glad that I was able to put myself together in the second set and things clicked.”
Earlier on Thursday, Xinyu Wang earned one of the biggest wins of her career to knock out second seed Jessica Pegula and set up a quarter-final against Ekaterina Alexandrova. “I felt like today was a very close match,” said Wang, who now owns a 2-0 record against Pegula, having also beaten the American at Wimbledon. “She’s a tough player. I know I had to play my best tennis to beat her. I’m super happy with my performance today.”
Wang was joined in the last eight by her countrywoman and Wuhan local Qinwen Zheng, who seems to be relishing the huge crowd support that she and Wang are enjoying this week at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center.
Zheng, seeded fifth at her home tournament, was runner-up at this year’s Australian Open and clinched singles gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She is the first Chinese woman to secure more than 40 wins in one WTA season since Wuhan’s Li Na in 2013. Thursday saw Zheng come from a set down to overcome Leylah Fernandez 57 63 60, roared on by her ecstatic home center court crowd.
Third seed Jasmine Paolini will be next up for Zheng in what promises to be a blockbuster evening session in Wuhan on Friday. The Italian, who was runner-up at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year, beat qualifier Erika Andreeva 63 62.
Coco Gauff notched up her eighth win on the bounce following last week’s victory in Beijing and her 70th career WTA Tour match win with a 64 61 victory over Marta Kostyuk. Gauff is bidding to become only the second player, after Caroline Garcia, to take both the Beijing and Wuhan titles back-to-back.
Gauff said: “Going into Wuhan, I feel no pressure, because Beijing is over, it’s in the past. I just wanted to push myself how I could play when I’m tired, because I am tired, I’m not going to lie. When you come on court, all of that goes away. Afterwards it might hit you or before it might hit you, but I love to compete and push myself. I think this is a good test for me.”
The 20-year-old American, seeded fourth in Wuhan, is the youngest player to hit 70+ career match wins since the WTA 1000 tier began in 2009. Gauff faces Poland’s Magda Linette in the first of Friday’s quarter-finals after Linette overcame eighth seed Daria Kasatkina.
Click here for Draws, Results and Order of Play
