Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka rallied from a set all the way down to beat No. 35 Yulia Putintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to take care of her undefeated report on the Wuhan Open and rise to the highest of the WTA rankings.
Thursday’s win for the Belarusian allowed her to regain the highest spot within the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who’s absent from the ladies’s Asian swing citing private causes and fatigue.
Sabalenka, the US Open champion, is 14-0 in Wuhan after profitable the title in her first look in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 earlier than the event took a five-year hiatus from the calendar attributable to COVID-19 journey restrictions.
The three-time main winner began slowly however roared to life throughout the second set and carried that momentum by means of the decider to clinch a quarterfinal spot in opposition to Magdalena Frech, who defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2.
Sabalenka completed with 44 winners to 33 unforced errors, whereas holding Putintseva to 13 winners and 14 unforced errors.
Coco Gauff superior to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of Seventeenth-ranked Marta Kostyuk.
It was the fourth-ranked Gauff’s eighth consecutive win after the American received the China Open final week, which moved her again into the highest 5 within the rankings.
Gauff fired two aces and broke the Ukrainian’s serve 5 occasions, dropping serve as soon as, as she clinched a one-sided match and prolonged her lead of their head-to-head sequence to 3-1.
Subsequent for Gauff is No. 45-ranked Magda Linette, who continued her spectacular kind this week by beating eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3.
“She’s a troublesome opponent,” Gauff mentioned of Linette. “We’ve not performed since [the 2021 US Open]. I actually do not know what to anticipate. However simply from watching her play, she’s been taking part in a terrific couple of matches right here in Wuhan.
“I anticipate it to be a troublesome match. She’s not a simple opponent to play.”
Gauff would be the solely American left within the draw after third-ranked Jessica Pegula and tour rookie Hailey Baptiste misplaced.
Pegula, the US Open finalist, had a troublesome afternoon in opposition to the 51st-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who was dominant on serve all through and clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win.
Wang had received their solely earlier assembly in three units within the second spherical at Wimbledon and bought off to a quick begin Thursday by breaking Pegula twice within the opening set.
After her first win over a top-10 participant within the earlier spherical, Baptiste was routed by Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 6-1.
Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng Qinwen rallied to beat Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, and sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini defeated Erika Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.
