WUHAN, Oct 14 — Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times by defeating local hero Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the final yesterday.

The top seed, who also triumphed at the event in 2018 and 2019, kept her undefeated record in Wuhan intact, improving to a perfect 17-0.

Sabalenka was put to the test by a gritty Zheng in a rematch of the 2024 Australian Open final before she captured an Open era record fifth title on Chinese soil.

With two Grand Slam titles and a WTA 1000 success in Cincinnati under her belt already in 2024, Sabalenka picked up her fourth trophy of the season from seven finals reached.

The 26-year-old strengthened her chances of ending the year as the world number one ahead of Iga Swiatek, a battle likely to come down to the wire at the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month.

"That’s a really tight ranking right now. Really nice to see,” said Sabalenka, who trails Swiatek in the world rankings by less than 100 points.

"We’ll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become world number one.”

Zheng had never taken a set off of Sabalenka in any of their previous three meetings, which have all come on the Grand Slam stage and in the past 13 months.

However, yesterday’s final was a different story, with Zheng, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, competing in front of her home fans in the city where she grew up.

Sabalenka broke for a 4-2 advantage on a Zheng double-fault in front of a capacity crowd of 13,000.

The Belarusian wrapped up the 38-minute opening set with her second ace of the match, dropping just five points on serve along the way.

Moment of truth

Sabalenka looked on course for another routine win when she broke in the third game of the second set but Zheng had other ideas.

The world number seven retaliated immediately and claimed her first break of serve in all four showdowns with Sabalenka to get the set back on level terms.

The contest became a tug of war, with Zheng inching ahead 5-3 and Sabalenka pegging her back.

The moment of truth for Zheng came in the 12th game as she capitalised on a Sabalenka error to break and secure a set against her opponent for the first time to take the final into a decider.

Sabalenka raced to a double-break 3-0 lead in the final set.

Zheng almost erased the deficit but couldn’t convert her chances as Sabalenka closed out the win after 2hr 40min.

"I felt like I just lost a little bit of focus and I let her come back in the match,” Sabalenka said.

"I would say I just played kind of against myself. But I’m really happy I was able to put everything together in the third set and get this win.”

Zheng, 22, can still take positives from her week in Wuhan, where she is the first Chinese finalist in tournament history.

She has made a crucial jump in the Race to the WTA Finals, from number nine to number seven, increasing her chances of becoming the first Chinese player to qualify for the season-ending championships since Li Na in 2013.

That could come down to the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo next week but Zheng said she has not decided yet whether she’ll play after being troubled by a fever over the past two weeks.

"I’m feeling a little bit weak in my health. I will need to be really cautious,” Zheng said.

"Competing in Ningbo is important, but my health is also important. I need to find the balance between the two.” — AFP