Sabalenka’s winning streak in Wuhan extends to 20 games and Gauff also advances to the semifinals
WUHAN, China — Aryna Sabalenka defeated eighth seed Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-3 on Friday to extend her winning streak in Wuhan to 20 matches and reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event.
The U.S. Open champion won the Wuhan Open in 2018 and 2019 and repeated it last year after returning to the Chinese city.
Top-ranked Sabalenka broke Rybakina’s serve three times in the 1 hour and 25 minutes of the match, advancing to the semifinals for the 11th time this season, and then waved and blew kisses to the audience.
It was also easy for third seed Coco Gauff, who advanced to her second consecutive semifinal with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Laura Sigmund.
The American lost to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals of the China Open last week.
Gauff will next face either No. 2 Iga Swiatek or Jasmine Paolini, who played in her final match.
Sabalenka will face sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula, who reached the third set in her seventh straight match earlier Friday. She dropped the first set against Katerina Siniakova before winning the next two sets 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Pegula was coming off wins over ninth-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova and fellow American Hailey Baptiste when she needed seven match points to seal the win.
