Sabalenka wins third consecutive Wuhan Open final

Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times with a hard-fought victory over Zheng Qinwen in Sunday’s final.

The 26-year-old Belarusian was defeated in three sets by China’s Zheng in a thrilling rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, in which she also claimed victory.

Sabalenka won her fourth women’s singles title of the year 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 and remains undefeated in Wuhan.

“That sounds crazy,” he said. “This place definitely makes you feel at home.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to play a lot more finals against each other.”

Top seed Sabalenka took the first set in just 38 minutes, but Zheng staged a comeback in a thrilling second to force the decider.

There, Zheng found herself trailing 3-0 and although she recovered two games, she lost serve again when Sabalenka broke to take a 5-2 lead.

The world number two couldn’t serve out the match when Zheng made love again, but she finally clinched her 17th career title with her third championship point.

Reigning Olympic gold medalist Zheng, who became the first Chinese player to reach a WTA 1000 final, has now lost all four of her matches against the three-time Grand Slam champion.

“Next time I’ll be better,” he said.

Sabalenka is now undefeated in 17 consecutive matches in Wuhan, breaking Petra Kvitova’s record for most in the tournament.

The victory adds to a successful year in which he won the Australian Open and the US Open and appeared in seven singles finals.