Sabalenka extends Wuhan win streak to 20 matches
Aryna Sabalenka extended her winning streak at the Wuhan Open to 20 matches with a straight-set victory over Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals on Friday.
World number one Sabalenka, who is the three-time defending champion in Wuhan, beat eighth seed Rybakina 6-3 6-3 and said the Kazakhstani "always pushes me to the limit to get the win".
The 27-year-old Belarusian, who is the top seed, will face American Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Pegula, 31, needed three sets to overcome Czech Katerina Siniakova 2-6 6-0 6-3 in the last eight.
World number three Coco Gauff also booked her place in the last four by comfortably beating Laura Siegemund 6-3 6-0.
According to statisticians Opta, Sabalenka is the fourth female player to win their first 20 main draw matches in a single WTA level event since 1990 after Monica Seles at the Australian Open (33-0), Steffi Graf in Leipzig (25-0) and Caroline Wozniacki in New Haven (20-0).
Sabalenka, who retained her US Open title in September, controlled the match against Rybakina, sealing the first set with a hold before breaking the Kazakhstani's serve in the first game of the second.
Despite a few service wobbles in the closing stages, Sabalenka took a comfortable win to set up the tie with Pegula – a player against whom she has won eight of her 10 meetings.
Asked about her consecutive wins at the tournament, four-time major winner Sabalenka said she feels a "really great connection" with the fans in China.
"I feel at home every time playing here. Honestly, that's just crazy," she said.
Meanwhile, sixth seed Pegula was a set down against Siniakova before fighting back to take the second set unchallenged. She then clinched the set third for her 50th win of the season and boost her chances of qualifying for next month's season-ending WTA Finals.
Pegula's last seven matches have all gone to three sets, with the world number six losing just one of them. "I guess I'm in really good shape," she joked.
American Gauff, seeded third, converted five of eight break points against German Siegemund, and has only dropped nine games across three rounds in Wuhan so far.
The French Open champion, who was defeated by Amanda Anisimov in the China Open semi-finals last week, will face either second seed Iga Swiatek or seventh seed Jasmine Paolini next.
At the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech caused an upset by sealing a 6-3 6-4 victory over Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The 30-year-old is the cousin of qualifier Valentin Vacherot from Monaco, who beat Danish 10th seed Holger Rune on Thursday to become the second lowest-ranked player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, and faces 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic next.
Rinderknech's last-four opponent will be either 16th seed Daniil Medvedev or seventh seed Alex de Minaur, who play each other in Friday's other quarter-final.
