In Wuhan title defense, Sabalenka shows sky-high upside remains intact

Aryna Sabalenka had been here too many times before in 2019.

She had come out firing her serve and forehand to start the Wuhan final, and won five of the first six games against Alison Riske. Then, in the second set, as she had so many times this season, Sabalenka had begun to misfire. In three of her last four events, she had lost close, three-set matches. Was her title defense in Wuhan destined to end in the same frustrating way?

This time Sabalenka was too close to the finish line to worry about it.

“Third set I came out like, ‘This is a final, try to do everything you can,” said Sabalenka, the defending Wuhan champion. “Just one match to go , just do your best.’ I was focusing on my game, focusing on each point. It helped me to come back in this match.”

Sabalenka certainly did everything she could to start the third. She won 13 of the first 17 points, went up 5-0, and eventually closed out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win for her first title since January. While Riske had been able to drag her into long rallies in the second set, Sabalenka cut them short in the third, primarily with her serve. She finished with 18 aces.

“[My serve] was really important today because from the baseline she was playing really, really well,” Sabalenka said. “…I knew it’s going to be a long rally. When ace happen, I’m like, ‘Not this one.’”

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Sabalenka admitted, as she had earlier in the week, that “this year has been really tough.” It was a season when was she was widely expected to ascend to the Top 5 and follow another young star, Naomi Osaka, into the Grand Slam winner’s circle. Instead, Sabalenka came to Wuhan ranked a disappointing No. 14, and with a title’s worth of points to defend. But she rose to that challenge.

“I can’t believe that I defend this title,” Sabalenka said. “I couldn’t even imagine that I will be able to do this.”

Has Sabalenka been underestimating herself? Like Osaka, she has experienced the hard side of the tour this year, and how tough it can be to dig yourself out of a slump when there’s another city to travel to, and another tournament to play, each week.

For this week, anyway, Sabalenka showed that, while she may always be inconsistent—she lost a 6-1 set to Elena Rybakina—her sky-high upside is still intact. Two of her wins, over Danielle Collins and Aliaksandra Sasnovich, were memorable blowouts, and she followed those with straight set victories over eighth-ranked Kiki Bertens and top-ranked Ash Barty. What we knew about Sabalenka at the start of 2019—that she can outplay virtually anyone on any given day—remains true as we begin to look toward 2020.