Ruthless Aryna Sabalenka races into Wuhan quarters after Novak Djokovic boost
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Aryna Sabalenka taking a wefie with fans after winning her women’s singles match against Liudmila Samsonova at the Wuhan Open on Oct 9.
PHOTO: AFP
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WUHAN – World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka raced into a fourth consecutive Wuhan Open quarter-final on Oct 9, having revealed she spent time on holiday in September practising with Novak Djokovic.
Sabalenka, in contrast to her rusty start against Rebecca Sramkova the day before, came out firing from the get-go to blow away Russia’s world No. 20 Liudmila Samsonova
The match was played under a closed centre-court roof on another hot day in China, where the start of play on outside courts was delayed to 2.30pm from 11am.
Sabalenka, whose unbeaten match run in Wuhan extended to 19-0 as she seeks a fourth straight title in the Chinese city, took a month off after winning her fourth Grand Slam title at the US Open in early September.
She went in holiday to Greece, where she spent time hitting with former world No. 1 and 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, who is a resident there and is currently in action elsewhere in China at the Shanghai Masters.
“I won a lot of points against him for the record,” Sabalenka told reporters.
“I hope he’s going to confirm that. We went for dinner. We practised a couple times.
“I hope I was a great hitting partner. So far, he’s winning in Shanghai. So I guess I was, it was a good one. I really hope he’s going to go all the way.”
Sabalenka did not face a break point against Samsonova and was impressive on her second serve, dropping just three points from 16.
The Belarusian top seed wrapped up the win in 75 minutes and awaits Elena Rybakina, who beat Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-4.
Earlier, Jessica Pegula was made to battle through three sets for the second day running as she also reached the quarter-finals.
The American sixth seed, who had spent almost three hours on court against Hailey Baptiste on Oct 8, needed more than two hours a day later to move past Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
She will next face Katerina Siniakova, who saw off 17-year-old American qualifier Iva Jovic 7-5, 6-3.
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek kept up a good day for the top seeds, setting up a last-eight clash with Italian Jasmine Paolini.
The Pole beat former Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, while seventh seed Paolini booked her spot when 10th-seeded Dane Clara Tauson retired while 3-1 down in the third set, having squared the first two 3-6, 6-1.
World No. 57 Laura Siegemund of Germany also reached the quarter-finals after beating 53rd-ranked Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). She will next face world No. 3 Coco Gauff, who defeated 142nd-ranked home favourite Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka’s hitting partner Djokovic battled past a spirited Zizou Bergs
In challenging conditions, the fourth seed was made to work harder than the scoreline suggests by his Belgian opponent, who actually registered more winners than the four-time champion but was undone by unforced errors.
“First encounter with Bergs, a great guy. Obviously, a lot of firepower in his game. He played a good game,” Djokovic said.
“Again, I was a little bit too passive. Just very challenging conditions these days for all the players. Just trying to stay alive on the court and glad to overcome this hurdle.”
Novak Djokovic (above) battled past a spirited Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-5 on Oct 9 to reach the Shanghai Masters semi-finals for a 10th time.
PHOTO: AFP
Vacherot pulled off a huge upset, stunning 10th seed Holger Rune 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to become the second-lowest ranked player ever to reach an ATP Masters semi-final.
The Monegasque qualifier’s remarkable run will see him crack the top 100 next week after spending half of 2024 sidelined with injury, but even playing in Shanghai was a question mark when he arrived.
“I didn’t even come as a qualifier, I came as an alternate. I wasn’t sure to even play the qualifier,” Vacherot said.
“Coming back from six months out is always not easy. You cannot just come back and win tournaments right and left. You’ve just got to fight your way through a little bit.” AFP, REUTERS
