Sabalenka reaches the eleventh quarter-finals in a row and remains unbeaten in Wuhan

WUHAN – World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka stormed back from a set down to beat No. 35 Yulia Putintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 and advance to the quarterfinals of the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open. The victory, Sabalenka's 35th on hard courts, increased the two-time defending champion's perfect record in Wuhan to 14-0

Wuhan: Scores | schedule | Pulls

Wuhan will be Sabalenka's 11th consecutive quarterfinal on the Hologic WTA Tour, a run she began in Stuttgart in the spring. In the last 15 years, only Iga Swiatek has enjoyed a longer quarter-final streak, making it twelve in a row between Doha and Cincinnati in 2023.

Sabalenka will face either Beatriz Haddad Maia or Magda Linette on Friday for a place in the semifinals.

Sabalenka overcame a slow start to earn her first career win against Putintseva. This was the first meeting between the two since the 2019 US Open, which Putintseva won in straight sets.

Putintseva needed just 29 minutes to win the first set and took advantage of Sabalenka's error-prone start to win six games in a row. Putintseva made only three unforced errors in the first set and didn't have a break point. Sabalenka failed with 14 unforced errors.

Sabalenka slowly began to find her range at the start of the second set. As Putintseva dropped her balls shorter and shorter, the reigning US Open champion's confidence grew. The crucial point came when Sabalenka was serving at 4-3 and faced a break point. She found a deep first serve and converted the point at the net to snuff out Putintseva's chance, then held on.

From then on, Sabalenka never lost another game. As Putintseva's frustration boiled over, Sabalenka won the final six points of the set, moving the game to third base and rolling to the end. She finished with 44 winners with 33 unforced errors, while Putintseva had 13 winners and 14 unforced errors.

More to come…