World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominance Wuhan on Thursday, extending her impeccable record at the tournament to 19 consecutive wins. The reigning US Open champion dispatched 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2 to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event.
Sabalenka, who already lifted the Wuhan trophy in 2018, 2019 and 2024, has never been defeated at the Chinese tournament. Against Samsonova, the Belarusian was unyielding on serve, dropping just ten points in the entire match and only allowing her opponent one match in which she managed more than one point on return. The win also marks Sabalenka’s ninth straight match win on tour.
The mutual dynamic with Samsonova has changed significantly in the past year. After losing two of the first three meetings in 2022 and 2023, Sabalenka has now recorded three straight wins, all in straight sets, in the last fourteen months.
Next up for top seed is fellow Grand Slam champion Elena Rybakina, who also advanced in straight sets on Thursday. Their quarter-final meeting will be the thirteenth chapter in a riveting rivalry that began at this stage in Wuhan in 2019, when Sabalenka won in three sets. The match has since become one of the most closely contested on the tour: Sabalenka leads the series 7–5, but Rybakina has won five of the last eight clashes and has a 5–4 lead on outdoor hard courts.
Recent history favors the Kazakhstanis: Rybakina last defeated Sabalenka in August in the Cincinnati quarter-finals, winning 6-1 6-4. But if the matches between the two make a big difference, the odds will turn towards world number 1: each of her seven victories has come in three sets, including an unforgettable comeback in Berlin this summer where she saved four match points. Rybakina, meanwhile, has won four of her five wins in straight sets. (via WTA)
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