With the likes of Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, and Amanda Anisimova already pulling out, the field at the Wuhan Open was already decimated. The field saw another major shakeup after Wednesday’s action ended, with the top two seeds knocked out in their opening matches. Their losses were contrasting, though, as Aryna Sabalenka could not win the match despite saving nine match points, while Jessica Pegula could not close out the match after having three match points herself.
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20-1. That was the win-loss record that Aryna Sabalenka had at the Wuhan Open before he match against Ann Li. The World No. 2 has won the tournament thrice and started her match in accordance with her tag as the favorite, dominating the first set. In no time, the Belarusian had opened up a 4-1 lead in the opening set, and even though her opponent clawed back at 4-3, the four-time Major champion closed the set out at 6-3.
There was one key thing to notice for the Belarusian, who had black tape on her right knee. Whether it was for protection or precaution, no one knows, but once Sabalenka went 4-2 up in the second set, the tape became an afterthought. This is where the match turned dramatically, as unforced errors started to mount for the former World No. 1, who ended the second set with 18 unforced errors to her name, and Li had won four consecutive games to take the set.
This was a recurring pattern for Sabalenka if one looked at her season. Back at her French Open loss against Diana Shnaider, the Belarusian was one game away from victory. Still, the windy conditions at Roland Garros completely threw her off, leading to a 6-0 final set loss, something that happened to her against Jessica Pegula in Berlin as well. Her losses against Ekaterina Alexandrova and Sara Bejlek in Toronto and Cincinnati also saw the four-time Major champion fail to hold leads.
Not to mention the Australian Open final, where Sabalenka let go of a 3-1 lead in the final set against Elena Rybakina. Another loss looked impending for the former World No. 1 in Wuhan, who went 4-1 down in the third set and called for a medical timeout. Once she came back on the court, the Belarusian played out of her skin, saving as many as five match points while serving at 2-5, and then later breaking Li’s serve to square things up at 5-5, while saving two more break points on her serve at 4-5.
The only fitting end for this match was a deciding tiebreak, and both players held their serve to reach there. Once again, it was Li who had match points at 6-3. Once again, Sabalenka saved two more match points. However, the tenth time proved to be the charm for the American player, who finally converted at 6-5 in the tiebreak to win the match.
Sabalenka‘s season record fell to 47-11, marking her tenth loss since winning Miami in March, and only her second loss in Wuhan in five appearances.
Jessica Pegula Has the Same Fate at the Wuhan Open
Jessica Pegula started her Wuhan Open campaign against Jelena Ostapenko, with the American having gotten a bye in the first round, whereas Ostapenko had handed a 6-1, 6-1 thrashing to Daria Kasatkina in the first round. The match started as expected, with Pegula dominating the first set. The American did not face a single break point in the whole set, making only two unforced errors, compared to Ostapenko’s eleven, with the set ending 6-2 in the second seed’s favor.
Pegula got a service break in the fifth game of the second set, going 3-2, at which point Ostapenko called for a timeout. The Latvian was seen receiving treatment to her right arm and elbow, and the former French Open champion’s facial expression did not look very encouraging at that point.
However, while Ostapenko did not look too happy, Pegula broke into a smile while talking with her coach, Mark Knowles. A fan ran towards Pegula to ask for her autograph, and while Knowles waved her off as it was an important point in the match, both started to laugh at the proceedings.
While the match might have looked a foregone conclusion at that point, Ostapenko came back on the court with only one plan, which was to hit winners. That has been her playing style all throughout her career, and that is what she laid back on in the face of injury. She broke back Pegula immediately, with the pair sharing another set of breaks in the next two games. The second set went to a tiebreak, where at 6-4, Pegula had an opportunity to finish the match.
Once again, Ostapenko rose to the occasion, saving three match points in the tiebreak, and winning it 9-7 to take the match into a third set. The former World No. 5 threw caution to the wind at that point and started to hammer winners at will. She broke Pegula’s serve twice to go 5-2 up, and while the American broke back once when Ostapenko had to serve for the match, there was no stopping the Latvian, who broke back in the very next game to win the match.
While Pegula’s loss must have stung the American, as she usually does not lose from being match points up, something she last did back in 2023 against Veronika Kudermetova in Madrid. However, the World No. 3 did have the benefit of qualifying for the WTA Finals, which makes this her fifth consecutive appearance at the year-end championships.