WUHAN, China – US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka’s winning streak at the Wuhan Open extended to 19 matches as she defeated Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 tournament.
Sabalenka’s top goalscoring career includes winning titles in Wuhan in 2018, ’19 and ’24.
No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek also advanced, winning 7-6 (2), 6-4 against Belinda Bencic, the former Olympic champion.
Swiatek improved to a 5-1 career record against Bencic, including an outright victory in the Wimbledon semifinals in July.
Sabalenka will next play eighth seed Elena Rybakina, who won 6-3, 6-4 against Linda Noskova and will look to earn a ticket to the WTA Finals event in Saudi Arabia.
Swiatek’s opponent in the quarterfinals is Jasmine Paolini, who advanced through the round of 16 when Clara Tauson retired trailing 3-6, 6-1, 3-1.
Earlier, Jessica Pegula recovered from an early break of service in the third set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and also advance to the last eight. Sixth seed Pegula, who lost in the semifinals of the China Open last week, leveled the deciding set at 2-2 and then won four of the last five matches for victory.
The win over No. 9 Alexandrova came a day after Pegula needed seven match points to beat compatriot Hailey Baptiste in the second round.
It was Pegula’s sixth straight three-set match, and she won for the fifth time.
“I can’t remember the last time I played two sets,” Pegula said. “But I fought very hard and I played against a lot of very good players. It was different conditions today with the roof closed and I think it took a while for us to get used to it.”
The late match would see No. 3 Coco Gauff, who was coming off a semifinal defeat to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova last week at the China Open, against Zhang Shuai.
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