Sabalenka makes 11th straight quarterfinal to stay undefeated in Wuhan

WUHAN -- World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka came roaring back after going one set down to defeat No.35 Yulia Putintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 and advance to the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open quarterfinals. The victory, Sabalenka's tour-leading 35th on hard courts, extended the two-time defending champion's perfect record in Wuhan to 14-0

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Wuhan will be Sabalenka's 11th consecutive Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal, a streak she began in the spring at Stuttgart. In the last 15 years, only Iga Swiatek has enjoyed a longer quarterfinal streak, making 12 straight between Doha and Cincinnati in 2023.

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. 

Sabalenka overcame a startingly slow start to earn her first career win over 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 seal the opening set, taking advantage of Sabalenka's error-prone start to win six consecutive games. Putintseva struck just three unforced errors in the first set and did not face a break point. Sabalenka misfired on 14 unforced errors. 

"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."

Sabalenka slowly began to find her range in the early stages of the second set. As Putintseva dropped her balls shorter and shorter, the reigning US Open champion grew in confidence. The key point came with Sabalenka serving down 4-3 and facing a break point. She found a deep first serve and converted the point at the net to wipe away Putintseva's chance and went on to hold. 

"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."

From there, Sabalenka did not lose another game. With Putintseva's frustrations boiling over, Sabalenka won the last six points of the set to take the match to a third and rolled to the finish. She finished with 44 winners to 33 unforced errors, while holding Putintseva to 13 winners and 14 unforced errors. 

More to follow...