WTA Wuhan Winners & Losers: Aryna Sabalenka’s hat-trick, fight for No 1 spot heats up, Coco Gauff’s unwanted record
The back-to-back WTA 1000 events in China have come and gone with Aryna Sabalenka capping off a brilliant fortnight with the Wuhan Open title.
The WTA Beijing 1000 honours went to Coco Gauff at the China Open, but Sabalenka got the better of the American in the semi-finals a week later and went all the way to win her third consecutive title in Wuhan.
Big Winners
Aryna Sabalenka: There is only one place to start as the three-time Grand Slam winner continued her winning streak in Wuhan as she moved to 17-0 after winning a hat-trick of titles following her 2018 and 2019 successes. Her 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 defeat of Zheng Qinwen in the final resulted in a fourth title in 2024 – two Grand Slams and two WTA 1000 titles.
But Sabalenka is not just a winner for her title run as the 1,000 points she picked up in Wuhan helped her to move ahead of Iga Swiatek in the Race To Riyadh, meaning she will be the top seed for the year-end tournament.
The battle for year-end No 1 title: Sabalenka overtook Swiatek in the Race, but she is still behind the Pole in the official WTA Rankings. The difference, though, is just 69 points and the good news for tennis fans is the fight will only be settled in Riyadh.
Last year the roles were reversed as Sabalenka was No 1 ahead of the WTA Finals, but Swiatek finished the year top after winning the tournament undefeated. The Belarusian will be the top seed and if the form book holds then we could have another Sabalenka-Swiatek final.
Coco Gauff: The American started the China swing down in sixth place in the rankings with 3,968 points, but her title run in Beijing and her semi-final in Wuhan have seen her move back up to No 3 and virtually assured of qualification for the WTA Finals. But it was not all good for Gauff in Wuhan (more in the losers section).
Zheng Qinwen: A semi-final run in Beijing followed up with a runners-up finish in Wuhan and Zheng is on the cusp of becoming the first Chinese player to qualify for the WTA Finals since Li Na in 2013. Let’s not forget she started the year with a run to the final of the Australian Open.
Big Losers:
Coco Gauff’s serve: The semi-final against Sabalenka started well for Gauff as she won it 6-1, but she endured a serving nightmare as she sent down 21 doubles faults – the most in a WTA Tour main draw match in 2024. Her new coach Matt Daly has some work to do and should consider following Sabalenka’s lead by hiring a biomechanics expert.
Emma Navarro: Since reaching the semi-final of the US Open, Navarro has suffered back-to-back second-round defeats at WTA Tour level with her hopes of WTA Finals qualification hanging by a thread. The American has slipped to No 8, but only the top 7 will qualify as Barbora Krejcikova will feature as a Grand Slam winner. Navarro will also not feature in Ningbo this week due to illness.
Barbora Krejcikova: Speaking of Krejcikova, the Czech also failed to win singles matches during the two WTA 1000 events in China and has slipped out of the top 10.
But the reigning Wimbledon winner also deserves to be a winner for a brilliant response to a user on social media. Under an X post “How did Barbora Krejcikova win Wimbledon”, she replied: “I won 7 matches in a row. That’s how.”
Paula Badosa: The former world No 2 enjoyed a great run in Beijing as she reached the semi-final, but she then came under fire over a controversial social media photo as she was accused of racism as she appeared to be pulling her eyelids back with chopsticks.
She apologised, but days later she withdrew from the Wuhan Open.
