{"id":206504,"date":"2025-10-11T23:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206504\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T23:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T23:21:10","slug":"furious-aryna-sabalenka-launches-her-racket-towards-a-ball-kid-in-astonishing-outburst-as-world-no-1-crashes-out-to-billionaire-american-tennis-heiress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/206504\/","title":{"rendered":"Furious Aryna Sabalenka launches her racket towards a BALL KID in astonishing outburst as world No 1 crashes out to billionaire American tennis heiress"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MICHAEL PAVITT, SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 11:53 EDT, 11 October 2025 | Updated: 12:11 EDT, 11 October 2025 <\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> avoided disqualification from the Wuhan<\/a> Open after the world No 1 threw her racket in anger, fortunately avoiding a ball boy, before eventually losing her semi-final to Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

The world No 1 was bidding to win the tournament for the fourth consecutive time, after triumphs in 2018, 2019 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Four years of the event were cancelled due to the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka had been on course to reach the final after taking a 5-2 lead over Pegula in the third set.<\/p>\n

The American, the Buffalo Bills<\/a> heiress, impressively stormed back by breaking winning three straight games to level the match again.<\/p>\n

Pegula continued her surge by coming out on top in a superb rally, with Sabalenka agonisingly putting a volley out to be broken for the second consecutive service game.<\/p>\n

\"Aryna <\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka threw her racket after being broken by Jessica Pegula at the Wuhan Open<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka <\/p>\n

Sabalenka raised her hand in apology after nearly hitting a ball boy by the side of the court<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The world No 1 received a warning but could have been disqualified had it hit the ball boy<\/p>\n

A furious Sabalenka reacted to the error, which saw her fall 6-5 down, by throwing her racket angrily towards the players’ benches.<\/p>\n

‘The racket goes flying and who has she hit there with the racket,’ Sky Sports commentator said responding to the incident.<\/p>\n

‘That is dangerous territory for Sabalenka, this semi-final has exploded into life in the last 10 to 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

‘Sabalenka gets a warning for the racket abuse, but she is lucky it is not more.’<\/p>\n

Replays revealed that Sabalenka’s racket had missed both a cameraman and nearby ball boy, as it collided with a bench and bounced back towards the court.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka, who immediately raised her hand in apology, would have been likely been\u00a0defaulted from the match had the racket struck either.<\/p>\n

The world No1 was handed a lifeline when Pegula double faulted four times when trying to serve out the match, which allowed Sabalenka to break back to force a tie break.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka had won an extraordinary 19 consecutive tiebreaks, but was undone on this occasion as Pegula clinched a dramatic\u00a02-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory.<\/p>\n

\"Replays <\/p>\n

Replays showed the racket hitting one of the players’ benches and bounced back to the court<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A frustrated Sabalenka eventually was beaten in a third set tie-break by Pegula in Wuhan<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka <\/p>\n

Sabalenka saw her 20 match win streak at the WTA 1000 tournament come to an end<\/p>\n

\"Pegula <\/p>\n

Pegula will now face fellow American Coco Gauff in the Wuhan open final on Sunday<\/p>\n

‘For what I did in the tie-break, I’m just really proud of myself,’ Pegula said post-match<\/p>\n

‘I’ve played so much tennis the last few weeks, so many three-set matches, but I feel like I’m very tough right now and I’m just using that as best as I can.’<\/p>\n

Pegula, who had lost her previous four matches against Sabalenka, will face Coco Gauff in the final of the WTA 1000 event.<\/p>\n

Gauff earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in her semi-final match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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