Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez was unable to maintain the pace that allowed her to snatch the first set against China’s Zheng Qinwen on Thursday, losing 5-7, 6-3 and 6-0 in the round of 16 of the Wuhan Tennis Open.
Facing the local favorite, seventh in the WTA rankings, the Laval resident lost her second service game during the second set and was never able to make up the deficit. She resisted two set points with balls in hand before giving in during the third.
After two hours and one minute of effort to complete the first two sets, Fernandez (28e) faded in the third. She won only nine of 35 points, suffering three breaks in 29 minutes.
Fernandez placed 66% of his first balls in play, 11% more than his opponent. Zheng, however, was more incisive on serve, winning 68% of the rallies she initiated, compared to 53% for Fernandez.
Zheng, gold medalist at the Paris Olympic Games, will cross swords with Italian Jasmine Paolini (6e) in the quarter-finals of this WTA 1000 tournament.
Sabalenka will take Swiatek’s place
Furthermore, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2e) came from behind to defeat the Ukrainian Yulia Putintseva (35e) 1-6, 6-4 and 6-0 to keep his immaculate record in Wuhan and regain first place in the WTA rankings.
Thursday’s victory will allow Sabalenka to move ahead of Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who decided not to participate in the WTA Asian tour for personal reasons.
Sabalenka, the recent U.S. Open champion, is 14-0 in Wuhan after winning the title in 2018 and 2019. The tournament was not held in the following four seasons due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
The three-time major title holder started the match slowly, but found her rhythm in the second set. She hit 44 winners, compared to 13 for Putintseva.
Sabalenka will play against the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (12e) or the Polish Magdalena Frech (27e).
The American Coco Gauff (4e) also reached the quarters by winning 6-4 and 6-1 against the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (17e). It was an eighth straight victory for Gauff, who won the China Open last week.
Gauff now has a meeting with the Polish Magda Linette (45e), who continued her impressive run this week by toppling Russian Daria Kasatkina (11e) 6-2 and 6-3.
“She’s a tough opponent,” Gauff said of Linette. We haven’t faced each other since [les Internationaux des États-Unis en 2021]. I really don’t know what to expect. But just watching her, she played some great matches here in Wuhan. »
Gauff is the only American still in the running since Jessica Pegula (3e) and Hailey Baptiste (102e) lost.
Pegula, finalist at the United States Open, was dismissed by Chinese Wang Xinyu (51e) 6-3 and 7-5. Baptiste, for her part, was defeated 6-1 and 6-1 by the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (33e).