China’s number 1 player Wang Qiang dropped just four games in her 6-3 6-1 win over reigning Olympic champion Monica Puig in 67 minutes to reach the first Premier 5 semifinal of her career.
Wang broke six times and saved seven of the nine break points she faced. The Chinese player fended off two break points in the opening game of the match and went up a double break to race out to a 4-0 lead. Puig pulled both breaks back in the fifth and seventh games to win three consecutive games for 3-4. Wang bounced back by winning the next two games with a break to close out the first set 6-3.
Wang earned three consecutive breaks to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the second set. With her win in today’s match Wang has extended her winning streak to 14 consecutive matches.
Wang has lifted her title in Guangzhou last week before becoming the first Chinese player to reach the semifinal in Wuhan.
The home player set up a semifinal against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, who beat qualifier Kateryna Siniakova 6-4 6-4. Siniakova had a roller-coaster week in her first three matches in Wuhan. In the first round match she fought back from 1-5 in the first set to beat Kristina Mladenovic 7-6 (7-4) 6-2. She rallied from a set down and fended off match points against Caroline Garcia in the second match before fighting back from 1-5 down to beat Garbine Muguruza to reach the quarter final.
Kontaveit converted three of her ten break points and hit 21 winners to 26 unforced errors.
The Estonian player got an immediate break in the opening game. Siniakova saved four break points in the fifth game before breaking back at love to draw level to 3-3. Kontaveit converted her second break point chance in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and held on her next two service games to win the first set 6-4.
Kontaveit did not convert a break point at 3-2. She saved four break points and held her serve at deuce to draw level to 3-3. After another hold of serve she got the only break of the second set at 30 in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and served out for the match after saving two break points at deuce in the final game in one hour and 36 minutes.
Twenty-year-old Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus edged past former Wuhan semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes to advance to her second consecutive Premier 5 semifinal of the season.
Cibulkova converted her second break point in the opening game to take a 1-0 lead. Sabalenka broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Sabalenka took another break lead for 5-3, but Cibulkova broke straight back to draw level to 5-5, as the Belarussian player was serving for the set. Sabalenka sealed the first set 7-5 with another break in the 12th game.
Sabalenka broke serve in the second game of the second set to open up a 3-0 lead. Cibulkova broke back at deuce in the fifth game for 2-3, but Sabalenka converted her second break point to open up a 4-2 lead and held her next two service games to close out the second set 6-3.
Sabalenka has won 18 of her past 22 matches since the Rogers Cup last August. She has enjoyed an impressive second half of the season in which she has reached two Premier 5 semifinals in Cincinnati and Wuhan, won the Connecticut Cup in New Haven and reached the fourth round at the US Open.
Sabalenka booked her spot in the semifinal where she will face Ashleigh Barty, who came back from a break down in the third set to beat Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 5-7 6-4.
“I am so happy to be in the semifinals. It’s a nice tournament. I always like to be in China I always play well here. I don’t know why. Probably the fried rice makes me much stronger on the court. It was not an easy match because she is moving really well and puts a lot of balls in. She put pressure on me. Sometimes the game was going up, sometimes down. I am so happy that I finished the match with the win”, said Sabalenka.
