Top-ranked Sabalenka’s streak includes winning titles at Wuhan in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
Earlier, Jessica Pegula recovered from an early service break in the third set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5 3-6 6-3 and also advance to the final eight.
Sixth-seeded Pegula, who lost in the China Open semi-finals last week, levelled the deciding set at 2-2, then won four of the last five games for victory.
The win over No.9 Alexandrova came a day after Pegula needed seven match points to beat fellow American Hailey Baptiste in the second round.
It was Pegula’s sixth straight three-set match, and for the fifth time, she won.
“I can’t remember the last time I played two sets,” Pegula said. “But I’ve been competing really hard and I’ve been playing a lot of really good players.
“It was different conditions today with the roof closed and I think it took us a little while to get adjusted.”
In night matches, No.2 Iga Swiatek is scheduled to play Belinda Bencic with No.3 Coco Gauff, coming off a semi-final loss to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova at the China Open last week, due to face Zhang Shuai.