Sabalenka beats Zheng to lift third title in Wuhan

World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka completed a historic three-peat at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open after defeating No.7 Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the final on Sunday.

Sabalenka became the first woman to win three consecutive titles at Wuhan Open after lifting the crown in 2018 and 2019, running her unbeaten streak at the tournament to 17-0.

In front of a capacity crowd of 13 000 at the Optic Valley International Tennis Centre.

Wuhan is Sabalenka’s 17th Hologic WTA Tour title and her fifth on Chinese soil, the most of any player in the Open Era. She also reigned supreme at 2019 Shenzhen and 2019 Zhuhai, in addition to her three titles in Wuhan.

With her win over Zheng, Sabalenka extended her career-best streak of Top 10 victories to six. She is now tied with World No.1 Iga Swiatek for the most Top 10 wins this season, with each notching nine.

Aryna Sabalenka has become the player with the most main draw wins at the Wuhan Open since the tournament’s inception in 2014 (17).

Zheng will rise to No.7 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals on Monday. The Top 7 on the Race Leaderboard at the end of the regular season will automatically qualify for the WTA Finals Riyadh. The 22-year-old is trying to become the first Chinese player to qualify for the tour’s season-ending championships since Li Na in 2013.