Sabalenka overcomes slow start to reach quarter finals

Aryna Sabalenka came back after going one set down to defeat No.35 Yulia Putintseva and advance to the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open quarterfinals.

The 26-year-old Sabalenka and two-time defending champion’s extended her perfect record in Wuhan to 14-0 after a 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 win against Yulia Putintseva on Thursday despite a slow start to the encounter.

“In the first set, seems like whatever she would do would play well for her,” Sabalenka said. “I was struggling with strings. I was all over the place.

“I’m really glad that I was able to put myself together in the second set and things clicked.”

“In that game I was just trying to cool myself down and just to remind myself to keep trying, keep fighting,” Sabalenka said. “You have to work for it, you have to run, you have to play the point, build the point, find the right shot, then go for it, not rush things. I was just having that conversation in my head all the time.

“I guess it helped, that little cool-down, that little chat to myself. After that game I felt like something clicked. The return was better. The movement was better. The decisions I was making on court was much better. I felt like that was really turning point in the match.”

Sabalenka will face Magdalena Frech for a spot in the semifinals on Friday. Frech advanced to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal after defeating No.9 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2 to close out the night.

Wuhan will be Sabalenka’s 11th consecutive Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal, a streak she began in the spring at Stuttgart.