WUHAN, China (Reuters) – Aryna Sabalenka lost her focus and was her own worst enemy at times during her 6-3 5-7 6-3 win over home favourite Zheng Qinwen in the Wuhan Open final, the world number two said on Sunday.
Sabalenka eased through the opener but lost some control in the second set against the Paris Olympics gold medallist before securing her third straight title in Wuhan.
“Honestly, I felt like I just lost little bit focus and I let her come back in the match. I got a little bit frustrated there. It became a three-set match. Balls are getting heavier, it’s third set, a bit emotional,” Sabalenka told reporters.
“I wouldn’t say that she did something differently. I would say that I just played kind of like against myself. But I’m really happy I was able to put everything together in the third set and get this win.”
Sabalenka’s victory also earned her 1000 points in the WTA rankings, meaning she is now just 69 points behind Pole Iga Swiatek in the race to be the year-end number one, with the WTA Finals in Riyadh likely to prove decisive.
“That’s really tight ranking right now. Really nice to see,” said Sabalenka, who lost the world number one ranking to Swiatek after last year’s WTA Finals.
“I always say of course it’s one of the goals, but I prefer focus on myself and just keep working hard. We’ll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become world number one.”
Sabalenka’s win over world number seven Zheng improved her head-to-head record to 4-0, with the pair having faced off three times in 2024, including in the Australian Open final.
Zheng lost her previous three matches against Sabalenka in straight sets but the Chinese player said she could see signs of improvement after taking a set off the Belarusian for the first time.
“I thought the match today was better than last time. I see there are places I need to improve. The level of play I showed today, when I’m not feeling well, I would say I can give it a five or six out of 10,” Zheng said.
“At critical points in this match, I need to increase my speed. I was a little bit conservative… She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics. I really look forward to training. I look forward to the next match against her.
“After this loss, I’m feeling excited because I am doing better each time. There’s more room for improvement. I hope that I can close the gap and also can overcome this challenge.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India)
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