Sabalenka won tennis tournament in Wuhan
Aryna Sabalenka (WTA: 2) has captured her 17th singles title at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) competitions. In the final of a major tournament in China’s Wuhan, the Belarusian tennis player broke the resistance of Chinese Zheng Qinwen (WTA: 7) — 6:3, 5:7, 6:3.
Previously, a representative of the Belarusian tennis school won these competitions twice: in 2018 and 2019. Now, when they returned to the tennis calendar after being absent from it due to the coronavirus restrictions, Aryna Sabalenka took the title again. Her winning streak at the Wuhan tournament already consists of 17 meetings.
This year, on the way to the finals, the Belarusian athlete consistently beat Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic (WTA: 37) (6:4, 6:4), representative of Kazakhstan Yulia Putintseva (WTA: 35) (1:6, 6:4, 6:0), Poland’s Magdalena Frech (WTA: 27) (6:2, 6:2), and Coco Gauff from the US (WTA: 4) (1:6, 6:4, 6:4), before defeating Zheng Qinwen, who is in excellent shape (WTA: 7).
The outcome of the first set was predetermined by the only break made by Aryna Sabalenka in the sixth game.
In the second game, the initiative alternately passed from one athlete to another, and the ending was better spent by the Chinese tennis player.
However, such a development of events did not knock the Belarusian out of her psychological balance, and the decisive third set, during which she made two more breaks (four against two), turned out in her favour.
The competitions in Wuhan belong to the WTA 1000 category; only the Grand Slam and the Final WTA tournaments are more prestigious. The total prize fund of the competition is $3.2m.
