Aryna Sabalenka extends streak only Serena Williams has bettered as she matches a Wuhan Open record

Ewan West
Aryna Sabalenka in action at the 2024 Wuhan Open
Aryna Sabalenka gestures during a match

Aryna Sabalenka crushed Magdalena Frech in straight sets to reach the semi-finals at the 2024 Wuhan Open. 

The world No 2 continued her excellent form with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against the world No 27 in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament.

Sabalenka broke Frech five times and lost her serve only once in what was her first meeting with the 26-year-old Pole.

With the 390 points earned from her run to the last four in Wuhan, Sabalenka is now 679 points behind world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the WTA Rankings. Sabalenka has overtaken Swiatek to top the WTA Race to Riyadh rankings.

Winning the Wuhan title would leave Sabalenka just 69 points behind Swiatek and give the Belarusian star’s year-end world No 1 hopes a major boost.

By reaching the semi-finals in Wuhan, Sabalenka has matched a tournament record and also extended an impressive WTA 1000 streak only Serena Williams has bettered.

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Having won the Wuhan Open in 2018 and 2019 (the previous two editions held), Sabalenka has now reached three-straight semi-finals in her first three appearances at the event. Former world No 1 Ashleigh Barty is the only other player who has achieved this.

Sabalenka has also extended her record winning streak at the Wuhan Open WTA 1000 event to 15 matches.

Serena Williams is the only player to win more consecutive matches in a city hosting a WTA 1000 tournament since the format was introduced in 2009. The American great amassed winning streaks of 21 at the Italian Open in Rome, 20 at the Miami Open and 19 at the Madrid Open.

Sabalenka will face Coco Gauff — who won the China Open last week and is on a nine-match winning streak — in the semi-finals in Wuhan.

The three-time Grand Slam champion looked ahead to her eighth encounter with the 20-year-old American, who she holds a 3-4 record against.

“Yeah, we had a lot of great, big matches, great fights. I’m really looking forward to always enjoying playing against her,” the 26-year-old said in her press conference.

“Yeah, I think the main thing is, once again, focus on myself, focus on my footwork, go to the net, finish the point over there. Yeah, on this slow surface, you have to go there.

“You have to be brave enough and finish the point there. I think that’s the main plan. It worked really well in our last meeting, so I’ll just stick to the plan. I’ll try to put as much pressure as possible on her.”

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