WTA 1000 Wuhan, Aryna Sabalenka wins by folding Qinwen Zheng in the final

WTA 1000 Wuhan, Aryna Sabalenka wins by folding Qinwen Zheng in the final

World No. 2 BelarusianAryna Sabalenka triumphed in the Wuhan WTA 1000 by beating Chinese host Qinwen Zeng, No. 7, by the score of 6-3 5-7 6-3 after two hours and 40 mnutes of play.

A single break decides the first set and of course è in favor of Aryna who in the sixth game goes 15-40 on her opponent’s serve and snatches it from her at the second opportunity. È again Sabalenka makes the break on the’1-1 of the second set but gives it back immediately.

On 3-2 Zheng, the Belarusian has to save four break points, then loses her serve on 4-3, recovers from 3-5 to 5-5 and finally, at the conclusion of a crazy set, has to surrender her service and the partial set to the hostess losing two games in a row.In three previous matches against Qinwen, Aryna had never lost a set.

The Belarusian in the decisive partial flies up 3-0 with double break, soon after she loses one of the two, in the seventh game she realigns, serves for the match on 5-2 but loses the serve even to zero, on 5-3 she has a match point but wastes it, has a second one and è Zheng to save it with serve and forehand volley but on the third she closes the practice with short ball plus volley and backhand.

For the 26-year-old from Minsk è the 17th career major circuit title, the seventh 1000, the fourth of the season, the second 1000. But most importantly è she is only 69 points behind world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the world rankings, while in the Race she has already clearly overtaken her. Zheng is again defeated by the Belarusian in a major final this year after the one at the Australian Open.