Aryna Sabalenka secured her third straight Wuhan Open title with a hard fought victory over Zheng Qinwen in Sunday’s final.

Zheng Qinwen hits a return during the women's singles final match between Zheng Qinwen of China and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at the 2024 Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 13, 2024. [Xinhua/Hu Jingwen]

WUHAN – Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times by defeating local hero Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the final on Oct 13. The top seed, who also triumphed at the event in 2018 and 2019, kept her undefeated record in Wuhan intact, improving to a perfect 17-0.

Just when Zheng, who was eyeing to become just the second Chinese player to claim a WTA-1000 title following her idol Li Na's triumph at 2012 Cincinnati, looked to cause an upset, Sabalenka raced up to a 3-0 double break lead in the decider.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka had seven aces, 32 winners and shook off a second-set blip against Qinwen Zheng to win the Wuhan Open title for the third straight time.

Aryna Sabalenka credits her recent victory at the Wuhan Open to a key lesson learned from her US Open defeat to Coco Gauff. Sabalenka, who fell to Gauff amidst intense crowd pressure at Flushing Meadows,

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Qinwen Zheng in the Wuhan Open final, winning with a score of 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. This victory marks Sabalenka’s fourth title of the year and her fourth on hard courts, adding to her earlier wins at the Australian Open,