Aryna Sabalenka has become the definition of consistency this season – reaching the finals of three slams while clinching the US Open, not to mention the hoard of WTA 1000 titles. At the Wuhan Open, she is replicating her sensational form, fresh off her epic triumph at Flushing Meadows last month. On Friday, she solidified her one-sided dominance at the WTA 1000 event against a solid rival.

In their 13th face-off, Sabalenka and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina clashed for a place in the semis of the Wuhan Open. While their previous battles had been nail-biting, the Belarusian had other plans this time. Rybakina had no chance of pulling off a comeback, letting Sabalenka seal the victory in straight sets with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-3 in just an hour and 25 minutes. With this win, Sabalenka enters the Wuhan Open semis for a fourth time. This was also Sabalenka’s 20th straight win since making her debut back in 2018 in Wuhan.

Even Sabalenka was shocked with her impeccable record in Wuhan. When asked, “You’ve never lost a single match here. Won 3 titles. How do you explain that incredible record?” the World No.1 simply replied, “I feel a really great connection with the Chinese fans, I guess. I feel at home every time playing here. Honestly, that’s just crazy”

With this recent win, Sabalenka has also improved the H2H record to 8-5 against the Kazakh star. Interestingly, Sabalenka is now in her 11th semifinal out of the 15 events she has appeared in 2025.

Speaking more of her performance against a hard-hitting opponent like Rybakina, she added, “She always pushes me to the limit to get the win. Super happy with the performance today. Happy with the win. Really happy with the support in the stadium, thank you guys for coming.” Moving forward, the World No.1 will face another familiar foe – American star Jessica Pegula.

Aryna Sabalenka looks to maintain her clean Wuhan record against Jessica Pegula

Similar to her strong H2H record against Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka has been able to dominate the American WTA star as well. Out of ten encounters between them, the Belarusian has won eight so far. On the other hand, Jessica Pegula has won just two.

Even in their last meeting, during the US Open semifinal a month ago, Sabalenka bested Pegula. Although the latter gained an early edge in the first set, Sabalenka managed to come back to win with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to enter the final before clinching the title, too, against another American, Amanda Anisimova.

However, it seems like Pegula has gotten stronger lately since their last meeting in New York. In fact, during their semifinal battle as well, she confessed that she was in control of the match before Sabalenka took it away. “I felt at the end, strategically, I played her much better than I have the last few times. Going into the next match, I kind of know what I need to do.”

In the last one month, Pegula has been able to regain her form. In Beijing, last week, she reached the semis. And now, in Wuhan as well, the World No.6 has earned a similar campaign.

While she will look to enter her maiden final of the WTA 1000 event, the four-time slam champion would like to keep her 7-year-old tournament record clean. It will be intriguing to see if Pegula can exact her revenge for that US Open loss and put an end to Sabalenka’s invincible streak in Wuhan.