Aryna Sabalenka won her third consecutive Wuhan Open title with a hard-fought victory over Zheng Qinwen on Sunday.
In a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, the world number 2 beat local favorite Zheng 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to win her second WTA 1000 title of the season and the seventh of his career.
Sabalenka, the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times, extended her unbeaten run at the tournament to 17-0 while improving to 4-0 in her head-to-head match against Zheng.
“I felt like I was losing my concentration a little bit and I let her get back into the match,” Sabalenka said, according to the WTA. “There, I was a little frustrated.
“It became a three-set match. The balls are getting heavier, it’s the third set, a bit emotional.
Sabalenka has now won four titles in 2024, including the Australian Open and US Open, and five of her 17 career titles have been won in China – an Open Era record, according to the WTA.
Sabalenka said Wuhan “definitely feels like home.”
Zheng, a gold medalist at Paris 2024, was trying to become the second Chinese player to win a WTA 1000 event after Li Na’s success in Cincinnati in 2012.
Despite the defeat, Zheng is the first Chinese player to reach a WTA 1000 final on home soil and the 22-year-old was encouraged by taking a set against Sabalenka for the first time.
“She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics,” Zheng said, according to the WTA. “I’m really looking forward to training. I’m looking forward to the next match against her.
“After this defeat, I feel excited because I get better every time. There is still room for improvement. I hope I can close the gap and overcome this challenge.
Zheng’s appearance in the final in Wuhan propels her to seventh in the world, with the top seven automatically qualifying for the WTA year-end finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, hopes to overtake Iga Świątek and secure the world’s top spot at the end of the year, with just 69 ranking points separating the top two players in women’s football.
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