Wuhan | Top seeds make their way into quarters

The two top seeds, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open on Thursday, with the former storming past Liudmila Samsonova, while the latter had to battle Belinda Bencic before gaining the upper hand.

I definitely wanted to play with confidence and make great decisions and not let her dictate. It was super difficult and every match was tough. That’s why it was two sets in over two hours. I’m glad I was there at the decisive moments to be solid and play one more time. Iga Swaatek

Also making it to the final 8 are seeds Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina.

World No. 1 Sabalenka needed just an hour and 15 minutes to beat 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-3 6-2, extending her unbeaten record in Wuhan to 19-0 and her active winning streak to eight matches.

After losing two of her first three matches with Samsonova in 2022 and 2023, she has now won three straight matches in the last 14 months, all in straight sets.

The Belarusian was not bothered by the serve, being only 10 points behind on her throw and producing a whopping 77% of her first service points, while being only 3 points behind on her second serve.

She was so dominant that Samsonova was only able to collect multiple points in one match when she returned.

After delaying the start of her Asian swing due to a minor injury, Sabalenka is chasing her fifth trophy of the season.

During her short break from the tour, she visited Greece, where she was able to spend some time on the court with Novak Djokovic, who is currently playing at the Shanghai Masters, and became a resident of the country earlier this year.

“To be clear: I won a lot of points against him,” news agency AFP quoted Sabalenka as saying. “I hope he will confirm that. We went to dinner. We practiced a few times.”

“I hope I was a great hitting partner. So far he is winning in Shanghai,” she added. “So I guess I was, it was a good one. I really hope he goes all the way.”

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Sabalenka will next play former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who won 6-3, 6-4 against Beijing finalist Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.

The eighth-seeded Kazakh makes her first appearance in Wuhan since reaching the 2019 quarter-finals on her debut, and she returned to that stage for a second time with her third win in as many meetings against Noskova.

Although Rybakina was pushed harder than Sabalenka, she won all four deuce points in three separate games she played in the match against Noskova, maintaining her dominance over the 20-year-old Czech, who put in a courageous performance, saving the first six break points she faced with aggressive play and fending off 10 of 12 overall.

However, at 4-3 in the first set, Noskova double-faulted and dropped serve for the first time, and Rybakina pressed on.

She never faced a break point, despite landing only 49% of her first serves, and Noskova’s late surge in the second, winning in an hour and 27 minutes.

Rybakina and Sabalenka will now meet in the quarter-finals, having met for the first time at professional level at the same stage of the same tournament in 2019.

Sabalenka won that match 6-3 1-6 6-1, the first of four straight three-set wins to start their rivalry, including a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory in the 2023 Australian Open final, the only major title match they have contested to date.

Overall, Sabalenka leads the head-to-head confrontation 7-5.

But since Rybakina stepped onto the board with a 7-6(11) 6-4 victory in the 2023 Indian Wells final, the Kazakh has turned the tide in her favor, winning five of their last eight meetings and sitting 5-4 overall on hard courts outside.

In fact, Sabalenka hasn’t defeated Rybakina on hard court since the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, and the last time they played Rybakina needed just 75 minutes to wrap up a 6-1 6-4 victory in the quarter-finals of Cincinnati in August.

There are still two places up for grabs at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, and three of the four players in contention advanced to the Wuhan quarter-final, with Jessica Pegula coming through 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini advancing after a right thigh injury beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson forced to retire trailing 3-6, 6-1, 3-1.

Paolini and Rybakina remain in 8th and 9th place respectively and have put some distance between themselves and the chasing players, especially considering the loss of Alexandrova in 10th place, meaning no one can directly overtake Rybakina this week in Wuhan.

The exits of both 11th-seeded Tauson and 15th-seeded Noskova have also helped her.

Pegula’s win also means neither Paolini nor Rybakina can overtake the American this week, but seventh-seeded Mirra Andreeva, who lost her Wuhan opener to Laura Siegemund on Tuesday, remains in their sights.

Both Paolini and Rybakina, who are on opposite sides of the draw, can overtake Andreeva if they reach the final, while Rybakina will need to move further than Paolini to overtake the Italian this week, and if they lose in the same round, the Italian will remain ahead.

6th seed Jessica Pegula needed 3 sets to get past 9th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and will meet qualifier Kateria Siniakova in the quarterfinals

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Sixth seed Pegula battled past Alexandrova in three sets and the American has now gone the distance in six of her last seven matches played since last month.

“I can’t remember the last time I played two sets,” Pegula said. “But I fought really hard and played against a lot of really good players. It was different conditions today with the roof closed, and I think it took us a while to get used to it.”

“I’m just happy that I was able to cross the finish line.”

The American recovered from 2-5 down in the opening set to improve to 3-3 in the head-to-head against Alexandrova, earning her first victory over the Russian on a surface other than clay.

Pegula has now recorded 44 wins over Top 20 players during her career and has a win-loss record of 48-18 this year.

Should she claim the Wuhan title, she will automatically qualify for the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

Pegula will first face qualifier Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic, who beat American teenager Iva Jovic 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 47 minutes.

Former world number 1 Iga Swiatek fought hard against Belinda Bencic but prevailed in straight sets on Thursday to reach the 25th WTA 1000 quarter-final of her career

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Meanwhile, Swiatek, who has already qualified for Ryadh, has her sights set on the No. 1 ranking at the end of the year and remains on course after beating No. 13 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-6(2) 6-4 to meet seventh seed Paolini in a super-charged quarter-final on Friday.

It was the 125th WTA 1000 win of Swiatek’s career, and Friday will mark the 25th WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her young career.

The six-time Grand Slam champion finished with eight aces and converted four of six break point chances in a match that lasted 2 hours and 8 minutes.

“Definitely, I wanted to play with confidence and make great decisions and not let her dictate,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview after the win. “It was super tough and every match was tough. That’s why it was two sets in over two hours. I’m glad I was there in the decisive moments to be solid and have one more chance to play.”

This was Swiatek’s fifth win in six games against Bencic, but it did not come easily.

After dropping the first three games to Swiatek, Bencic came back to win five of the six games and serve for the first set at 5-4, but two loose forehands gave the Pole the equalizer.

Bencic has made a career of getting the ball early and playing fast and aggressively, but in this case Swiatek was sharper, especially in the breaker.

With Bencic serving at 2/4, Swiatek was inside the baseline when she returned a first serve with a startling forehand winner, and when she won her third point in a row, the No. 2 seed converted her first set point.

In the second they were even at 3 when Swiatek made her move with a spicy forehand winner, and another errant forehand from Bencic gave her the decisive break.

The 24-year-old Pole is looking for her twelfth career WTA 1000 title, her 11th coming this summer in Cincinnati, where she defeated Paolini in the final.

Swiatek has won all six previous matches against Paolini, five of them in straight sets.

“She is a very difficult opponent – ​​we have already played a final this year,” Swiatek said. “I know she can play great tennis, and she is a fighter, she never gives up. I will be ready.”

Third-seeded Coco Gauff was untroubled by wildcard Zhang Shuai, although she dropped her serve twice before advancing to the quarterfinals, where she will face Laura Siegemund

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In the nightcap match, third seed Coco Gauff was a 6-3 6-2 winner over Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai and could meet Swiatek in the semi-finals if the American can get past the tricky unseeded Laura Siegemund after the German advanced with a 6-4 7-6(2) win over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.

At 37 years old, and the oldest remaining player in the draw, Siegemund is looking for her second Top 10 win of the week, following her second-round defeat to fifth seed Mirra Andreeva from Russia.

Surprisingly, Gauff was broken twice by Zhang, but it never looked like she was in too much trouble, later confessing that she hadn’t played her best.

“It was a good match, it was a bit up and down, but I’m happy to be in the next round,” she said. “It wasn’t my best level at some points, but I’m glad I got through it.”

The 21-year-old then shared her thoughts on Siegemund, a woman she played against twice before on the WTA Tour.

“She’s a very difficult player, very experienced. It will be another tough match, but I’m looking forward to it,” said Gauff, who lost their first career meeting in Auckland five years ago before getting revenge at the 2023 US Open.