On October 13, Beijing time, the final of the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open began with a showdown between the world's No. 2 ranked tennis player and the world's No. 1 ranked tennis player.
Sabalenka (name)
With the first sister of the Chinese Golden Flower
Zheng Qinwen (1924-), Hsien Chang (1928-), Taiwanese calligrapher
The match was a three-set affair. The match went to three sets, with Zheng losing 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, and failing to win her first WTA 1000 title. Sabalenka, on the other hand, made it three consecutive titles at the Wimbledon, collecting her fourth title of the season, seventh in the 1000 and 17th on Tour.
In terms of world rankings, Sabalenka is ranked No. 2 in the world and is the top seed in the women's singles at the Wimbledon, while Zheng Qinwen is ranked No. 7 in the world and is the No. 5 seed in the women's singles at the Wimbledon.
In terms of head-to-head record, Zheng and Sabalenka have met three times in the quarter-finals of last year's US Open, the final of this year's Australian Open and the quarter-finals of this year's US Open, with Zheng losing all three matches to Sabalenka by 0-2 scores.
Looking back at the match, Zheng was broken by Sabalenka in the 6th game of the first set, when she was trailing 2 - 4 on the court. In the 9th game, Sabalenka successfully held on her own serve, and Zheng Qinwen lost the first set 3 - 6.
In the second set, Sabalenka broke in the third game, but Zheng broke back in the fourth game. Zheng broke again in the eighth game to take the set to 5-3, but Sabalenka broke in the ninth game and then held to bring the score to 5-5. In the 12th game, Zheng broke Sabalenka at the end of the set to take the match to a tiebreak at 7-5.
In the deciding set, Zheng Qinwen's first two service games were broken and he was down 0-3 in the opening game. The fourth game Zheng Qinwen after a hard battle to complete the break back, will be 1 - 3. 7th game Zheng Qinwen's service game and lost, Sabalenka to 5 - 2 lead into the service winners. In the eighth game, Zheng broke, but in the ninth game, Zheng was broken by Sabalenka in a set he could not hold, and lost the set 3-6.
