WUHAN, October 12, 2024 (Press Release)
Two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka will meet hometown heroine Qinwen Zheng in Sunday’s final of the WTA 1000 DONGFENG VOYAH · WUHAN OPEN 2024.
The final is a sell-out with more than 13,000 people expected to pack the iconic Wuhan center court to watch reigning Australian Open and US Open champion Sabalenka take on Olympic gold medallist Zheng.
This is the first time the two players have met at a WTA Tour event, with all their previous meetings coming at Grand Slams, notably this year’s Australian Open final. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 3-0 and will start as marginal favourite, even if she acknowledged that the crowd may be firmly behind Zheng.
Still undefeated.
Make that 37 hard-court wins this season for Wuhan finalist @SabalenkaA, which leads the Hologic WTA Tour!#WuhanOpen pic.twitter.com/wQUKQp66ew
— wta (@WTA) October 12, 2024
“This tournament feels like playing at home. Being the third time in the finals, hopefully I’ll get this beautiful trophy tomorrow,” said Sabalenka, who is usually a big fan favourite in Wuhan. “But no expectations on support from the crowd. I have my team. I have my family. I have a lot of people who support me around the world. I’ll just focus on that.”
No Chinese woman has ever reached a final in Wuhan so Zheng has already made history in the city where she has spent much of her life, thanks to her 6-4, 6-4 victory over countrywoman Xinyu Wang in Saturday’s night session semi-final. Despite admitting afterwards that she was suffering from a mild fever, Zheng took control early against Wang and never looked likely to relinquish it.
Zheng has reached a personal milestone by making her first WTA 1000 final. She trained at the Optics Valley Tennis Center complex and played her first match here just before she turned 17, when she was given a wildcard into qualifying and also managed to meet her idol, Wuhan’s own Li Na.
THERE’S NO STOPPING QUEEN WEN
Zheng Qinwen is into the #WuhanOpen final where she will face Sabalenka for the title! pic.twitter.com/FrwzYEgiIk
— wta (@WTA) October 12, 2024
“At the age of 22, being a finalist at the 1000 level, especially in Wuhan, this is a really big surprise. With this achievement, I’m really happy,” said Zheng. “For the final tomorrow, I have a tough opponent. Everyone knows she’s really tough. I lost to her previously. If I can play my tennis tomorrow, I think there is a 50% chance. It really depends on my mentality. Of course, she’s at a stronger level of confidence. What I need to do is to adjust my mentality, to find a way through it on court. I really look forward to the final tomorrow.”
Sabalenka, who won Wuhan in 2018 and 2019, has never lost a match here and has now notched up 16 consecutive wins in Wuhan, including Saturday’s rollercoaster 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 semi-final victory over Coco Gauff. The victory snapped Gauff’s own winning streak of nine matches, following her title run in Beijing last week.
Sabalenka and Gauff opened another high-quality chapter in their rivalry, in what was a replay of both the 2023 US Open final and this year’s Australian Open semi-final.
“Honestly, I think in the first set she was just, like, crushing it,” said Sabalenka afterwards. “Whatever she was doing, everything was flying in. Everything was so aggressive. I didn’t have many opportunities. In the second set, she dropped her speed a little bit. I was able to step in and put so much pressure on her. I think that’s what changed in the second set. That’s what changed in the third set, as well.”
Irrespective of Sunday’s result, Sabalenka has taken giant strides towards regaining the World No.1 ranking from the absent Iga Swiatek this week. Sabalenka has made it clear that she wants to finish the season in top spot. Both she and Swiatek are due to play at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, which start on November 2nd.
In Sunday’s doubles final, starting at 2.30pm local time, Kazakh Anna Danilina and her partner Irina Khromacheva take on Americans Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula.
