Triumph in Wuhan: Sabalenka reaches for number 1

Aryna Sabalenka is setting her sights on the lead in the world rankings after her next tournament victory on the WTA Tour.

The 26-year-old Belarusian won the final in Wuhan against Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 6:3, 5:7, 6:3 and is now only 69 points away from Polish leader Iga Swiatek.

For Sabalenka it was the fourth title of the year after the Australian and US Opens and the success in Cincinnati. She is still undefeated in Wuhan. She had already prevailed in her first two tournament participations in 2018 and 2019. Zheng, on the other hand, missed her second home win after the success in Zhengzhou 2023.

In the fourth duel with Zheng, Sabalenka gave up a set for the first time, but prevailed after 2:40 hours. In addition to the points for the world rankings, she received $525,115 in prize money. That year she had also beaten Zheng in the Melbourne final and New York quarterfinals en route to their Grand Slam titles.

Swiatek was still well ahead of Sabalenka in the ranking in the summer, but lost the momentum of the clay court season and some points. At the beginning of October she announced the surprising separation from coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she had worked for three years. They skipped the tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan.