Two-time defending champion Sabalenka returns to winning ways in Wuhan

No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka maintained her unbeaten record at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open on Wednesday while also claiming a milestone win.

Wuhan: Scores | schedule | Pulls

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka opened her final Wuhan season with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round win over 37th-seeded Katerina Siniakova.

After her first-round bye, Sabalenka regained her winning streak by defeating WTA doubles world number one Siniakova in 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.

“I’m happy to be back in Wuhan,” Sabalenka said after her win. “Siniakova, fighting for every point, it’s really good that I was able to finish this match in two sets.”

Post big numbers: World No. 2 Sabalenka is now 13-0 in her entire career in Wuhan. She won the title in her first appearance in 2018 and then defended her title in 2019 before the tournament took its five-year break from the calendar.

“I missed Wuhan a lot,” Sabalenka said. “I have really good memories of winning the title here twice. Wuhan alone brings me a lot of great memories and good vibes.”

Sabalenka also secured her 50th Tour win of the year by defeating Siniakova. Sabalenka is only behind Iga Swiatek in tour-level match wins this year and is closing in on the showdown for world number one.

“I love this competition and I love seeing (Swiatek) in the draw,” Sabalenka said. “I love getting to the final and playing against them. They are always great fights. I always enjoy fights against them.”

“Hopefully we can play each other there in the (WTA finals in Riyadh) and fight for world No. 1. That's ideal. I'm trying to focus on myself and make sure I play my best tennis and do something. “Certainly I still have a chance to be world No. 1 at the end of the year.”

Sabalenka, this year's Australian Open and US Open champion, is hoping for a new winning streak as the season comes to an end. Her 15-match winning streak was broken by Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals in Beijing last week.

Next comes Putintseva: Sabalenka's opponent in the round of 16 will be 35th-seeded Yulia Putintseva, who eliminated 15th-seeded Donna Vekic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 earlier on Wednesday.

Sabalenka and Putintseva have only met once before, and Putintseva won that match in straight sets at the 2019 US Open.

Game moments: Sabalenka had to concede a 4-2 lead in the first set on Wednesday when Siniakova was able to serve again in the next game. However, Sabalenka saved two set points at 5-4 and Siniakova committed her second double fault of the set to hand the lead to the reigning defending champion.

Fierce forehands gave Sabalenka a quick 2-0 lead in the second set, but she double-faulted away and Siniakova once again kept pace with the top seed throughout the set. However, at 5-4, Sabalenka produced some of her best results and secured two match points.

On her second match point, Sabalenka rounded out the victory with a winning backhand – her 21st winner of the day to Siniakova's 14. Sabalenka also converted four of her 12 break points, while Siniakova went 2 for 8.