Returning to action for the first time since claiming her fourth Grand Slam crown at the US Open, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka needed a set to find her groove at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open. Once she did, though, she motored to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Rebecca Sramkova in 1 hour and 58 minutes.
Wuhan: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Famously, Wuhan has long been one of Sabalenka’s favored hunting grounds. She won her first WTA 1000 title here back in 2018, and has yet to lose a match at the tournament. The three-time champion extended her perfect record in Wuhan to 18-0 — the longest such streak at a single event since Caroline Wozniacki won her first 20 matches at New Haven, including three titles, between 2008 and 2012.
Sramkova also came into the match with an unbeaten record in Wuhan — albeit based on just a single match, her first-round defeat of Anna Kalinskaya. Twelve months ago, the Slovak was surging into the Top 50 after winning her first WTA title in Hua Hin and making a further two finals in Monastir and Jiujiang. This week marked her Wuhan debut.
Next, Sabalenka will resume her rivalry with Liudmila Samsonova in the third round. The No. 16 seed came from a set down to defeat Sofia Kenin for the first time in three meetings, advancing 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour and 56 minutes. Sabalenka owns a 3-2 head-to-head advantage over Samsonova, including straight-sets victories in their two most recent encounters, at Cincinnati 2024 and Indian Wells 2025.
How did Sramkova threaten the upset?
No. 66-ranked Sramkova wasted no time in asserting herself on the match. Three clean winners in the first game, including two spectacular returns, enabled her to break Sabalenka’s serve immediately.
That set the tone for a first set in which Sramkova aimed to land the biggest blows first in every exchange, and largely succeeded. She tallied 15 winners in the set, including five aces and four returns. By contrast, Sabalenka managed just three winners off the ground.
How did Sabalenka turn the match around?
Though the top seed got a pair of solid service holds on the board to lead 2-1 in the second set, Sramkova was still coming up with the more impressive plays on offense. But as Sramkova was poised at 40-15 to level at 2-2, Sabalenka stepped up to the plate. She slammed consecutive winners on both game points, and snatched the first break of the set as Sramkova sent a forehand wide.
Sabalenka didn’t relinquish this momentum for the rest of the match. She began to withstand Sramkova’s first strike, and in longer high-octane exchanges she invariably found a higher level. Her winner tally rose to 24 across the second and third sets, including 20 off the ground.
The four-time major champion faced two potential turning points in the last two sets, and passed both tests with clutch tennis. At 4-2 in the second set and at 4-1 in the third, Sabalenka came through multi-deuce tussles in which she had to save four break points each time. Having lost both of the break points she faced in the opener, she saved all nine in the second and third sets.
“I have to say she played incredible tennis, especially in the first set,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Not much I could do. I knew that after that little break [since the US Open] it would not be easy to get back in my rhythm, but I’m really glad that in the second set I found my game, I stepped in and I think I played really great.”
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