Aryna Sabalenka overcomes home favourite Zheng Qinwen completes Wuhan Open hat-trick

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Aryna Sabalenka overcame home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6-3 5-7 6-3 to claim a third straight crown at the Wuhan Open. US Open champion Sabalenka has an immaculate record at the WTA 1000 event, where she extended her dominance on Sunday (October 13).

The showdown was a rematch of this year's Australian Open final, in which Sabalenka also came out on top. She is now unbeaten in four matches against Zheng, this year's Olympic champion.

Having required just 38 minutes to take the first set, Sabalenka was pegged back in the second, eventually succumbing after saving four break points. Yet the Belarusian regained the impetus in the decider, swiftly taking a double-break lead and hardly looking back from there.

Data Debrief: Queen of Wuhan does the three-peat

What a year it has been for Sabalenka, and after previously winning in Wuhan in 2018 and 2019, the world number two completed a hat-trick of trophies in style. She has played 17 times at the tournament and is yet to lose a match.

Sabalenka, who has won four trophies this year, is the second player, after Serena Williams at Miami (2013 to 2015), to win a WTA 1000 event in three consecutive editions of the tournament.

China is something of a home away from home for the 26-year-old, too. She is now the player to have won the most WTA-level titles on Chinese soil in the Open Era (five).

Meanwhile, Sabalenka and world number one Iga Swiatek are the pair with the most combined wins at WTA 1000 events (58) in a single season, surpassing Williams and Maria Sharapova in 2013 (57).