Sabalenka Extends Winning Streak at Wuhan Open; Gauff Advances in Beijing

The Wuhan Open witnessed another dominant performance by Aryna Sabalenka, who maintained her impeccable record at the tournament on Wednesday. The second-ranked Belarusian secured a 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory against Katerina Siniakova, marking her 13th consecutive win at the Wuhan tournament, where she won titles in 2018 and 2019. “I missed Wuhan a lot,” Sabalenka expressed, recalling her fond memories associated with the venue.

Sabalenka’s consistent performance saw her break Siniakova’s serve twice in each set, despite losing one of her own service games. The match concluded in 1 hour and 34 minutes. Her next opponent in the third round will be Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan, following Putintseva’s triumph over Donna Vekic.

This victory also marked Sabalenka’s 50th tour-level win of the year, placing her in strong contention for the year-end World No. 1 ranking, alongside Iga Swiatek. Swiatek recently withdrew from competitions in Asia, citing fatigue.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Coco Gauff advanced with a commanding win over Viktoriya Tomova in Beijing, defeating the Bulgarian 6-1, 6-2. Meanwhile, American Hailey Baptiste achieved her first victory over a Top-10 player by upsetting Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5.

In men’s tennis, Jannik Sinner avenged his previous loss to Ben Shelton at the Shanghai Masters, overcoming the American 6-4, 7-6 (1). Sinner remarked on the challenging match, highlighting Shelton’s serving prowess. Sinner’s win sets him up for a quarterfinal clash against Daniil Medvedev, who recently defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak to 12 matches by overcoming Gael Monfils in a challenging 6-4, 7-5 duel, progressing to the quarterfinals where he will face either Tomas Machac or Tommy Paul.