Can Gauff and Sabalenka keep rolling? The Wuhan quarterfinals await

Friday’s quarterfinals at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open feature a little of everything. For starters, four of the Top 5 seeds are through.

It starts with No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who is looking for her fourth title of the year -- and her third in her past four events.

There’s the hot popcorn night match between No.3 Jasmine Paolini and No.5 Zheng Qinwen, while No.4 Coco Gauff is in action, plus an unexpected, unseeded meeting of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Wang Xinyu.

Wuhan:  Scores | Schedule | Draws

Poland also has two survivors (none named Swiatek), two Magdas, as in Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.

Let’s break it down:

Top half

No.1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Magdalena Frech, Friday, not before 3 p.m. local time

Head-to-head: 0-0

How they got here: Sabalenka was a 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 winner over Yulia Putintseva, while Frech defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia by a 6-3, 6-2 count.

Sabalenka lost six of seven games in a dispiriting first set but rallied to win 12 of the last 16. It was her sixth comeback win of the year in a WTA 1000, the most of any player.

Remarkably, it was her 11^th consecutive WTA Tour quarterfinal, something only Iga Swiatek has achieved in the past 15 years.

“Honestly, [first set], nothing I could do,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Somehow, I managed to find my serve, step in and put pressure on her. I felt like whatever I was doing would go in.”

That’s the mindset of a champion. Sabalenka won 17 of 28 return points in the pivotal third set. After seeing her 15-match win streak stopped in the Beijing quarterfinals by Karolina Muchova, she’s now won 17 of 19 matches -- and 14 straight in Wuhan, where she’s attempting a rare three-peat, going back to titles in 2018 and 2019.

Frech, though, is on a terrific run, winning 10 of 11 matches going back to her title at the Guadalajara 500. She upset No.6 seed Emma Navarro in the second round and now No.9 Haddad Maia.

This is the biggest quarterfinal of Frech’s career.

No.4 Coco Gauff vs. Magda Linette, Friday, 11 a.m.

Head-to-head: Gauff 1-0, a three-set, first-round win at the 2021 US Open

How they got here: Gauff defeated No.13 Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-1. Magda Linette was a 6-2, 6-3 upset winner over No.8 Daria Kasatkina.

Credit Gauff with some real gumption as the season wanes. She won the title last week in Beijing, and the victory over Kostyuk was her eighth straight.

“Going into Wuhan, I feel no pressure, no anything, just because Beijing, it’s over, it’s in the past,” Gauff told reporters. “If you look at some of the players who made the [Beijing] semifinal, almost all of them, except me and Qinwen, pulled out because it’s such a quick turnaround.

“It wasn’t really a thought in my head. I just wanted to push myself how I could play while I am tired because I am tired, I’m not going to sit here and lie.”

Only Swiatek (30) and Sabalenka (24) have won more WTA 1000 matches this year than the 20-year-old Gauff (22).

Linette has had an impressive journey in Wuhan, winning three consecutive matches for the first time since taking the title in Prague back in July. She’s won all five of her sets, including her first-round match over No.11 Liudmila Samsonova and a second-round win over Lesia Tsurenko via retirement.

Bottom half

No.3 Jasmine Paolini vs. No.5 Zheng Qinwen, Friday, 7 p.m.

Head-to-head: Zheng, 2-0, winning four of five sets last year in the Palermo final and the semifinals in Zhengzhou.

How they got here: Zheng came back to defeat Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. Paolini was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over lucky loser Erika Andreeva.

The win over Fernandez was a big one for Zheng, who is battling Emma Navarro for a spot in the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The Chinese favorite -- and Olympic singles gold medalist -- lost in the Beijing semifinals to Muchova.

“The match was tough for me because when I entered to the court, I feel hurt in my stomach,” Zheng said afterward. “That’s why I’m really happy to get this match, even when I’m not there in my physical.”

Zheng thrives playing in China. This century, only Serena Williams has a higher winning percentage in this country among players with 15 or more matches -- the 21-year-old is already a celestial 14-3.

Worth noting: Only Emma Navarro (18) has won more matches in three sets than Zheng (17) in WTA Tour events this year.

Meanwhile, Paolini is into her sixth quarterfinal of the year, and her first since Wimbledon. This has been a historic season for the 28-year-old from Italy.

This was her 13^th win at a WTA 1000 this year -- among Italians, only Sara Errani (19) and Roberta Vinci (14) have more in a single season. Moreover, only Swiatek (45), Sabalenka (42) and Gauff (38) have won more matches in 2024 than Paolini’s 31.

Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Wang Xinyu, Friday, following Gauff-Linette

Head-to-head: 1-1 Alexandrova won the most recent match, last year in Cleveland after losing their first meeting earlier at Indian Wells.

How they got here: Alexandrova took care of rising American qualifier Hailey Baptiste 6-1, 6-1. Wang scored the biggest upset of the Round of 16, defeating No.2 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5.

Pegula had won 11 straight matches against players outside the Top 50, but Wang beat her for the second time in two meetings. With Pegula ranked No.3, it was her biggest win, rankings-wise.

Wang is the second Chinese player to defeat a Top 10 at the Wuhan Open after Wang Qiang, who defeated Karolina Pliskova in 2018 as a wild card.

“I played her two times,” Wang said of Alexandrova. “I actually practiced with her. I understand she plays really fast. I will focus on my service games. I can do better so that I have less pressure on the returns.”

There were some early flurries -- reaching the final in Linz and the semifinals of the Miami Open -- which lifted Alexandrova to a career-high No.15 in April. But Alexandrova entered Wuhan with a 23-22 record in singles.

She opened with a pair of three-set wins, over Sofia Kenin and No.10 seed Anna Kalinskaya -- and then defeated Baptiste in a scant 63 minutes.