With Sabalenka’s Greek getaway over, her Wuhan fortress awaits

Clutching her racquet bag, Aryna Sabalenka posed coyly in a grove of pine trees with the caption “Work life balance” punctuated with a smiling emoji.

The rest of the recent Instagram post followed that theme: Sabalenka unwinding by the Mediterranean Sea in off-court mode, her team in the gym and sweeping scenic shots from a Greek resort.

After winning her second straight title at the US Open last month, the World No. 1 mixed business with pleasure while most of her colleagues on the Hologic WTA Tour descended on Beijing for the first of back-to-back WTA 1000 events in China. Sabalenka, nursing a “minor injury” sustained in New York, withdrew from the opener.

“I feel good,” Sabalenka told reporters on Sunday in Wuhan. “I just didn’t want to rush my body into the tournament. So I think we made the right decision to take extra time for recovery and for the preparation. Physically, I feel ready to go.”

Sabalenka has been better than a “go” in her three previous campaigns at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open, winning titles in 2018, 2019 and again last year. In the last two matches, she defeated Coco Gauff and Zheng Qinwen -- who went on to play the championship match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh -- to run her record to a dazzling 17-0 in this city by the Yangtze River.

That makes her a three-time defending champion and owner of the finest run of dominance at a single WTA event since Serena Williams won 21 straight in Rome from 2012-19.

She’s absorbing the culture here. On Saturday, she learned to cook fried rice (she wants to take some back home to Florida) and marveled at the pink lavender fields while driving to the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre.

The eighth edition of the Wuhan Open opened on Monday. Founded in 2014, this WTA 1000 event returned to action in 2024 after a four-year hiatus. This tournament features eight of the Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Rankings and a loaded 64-player draw in a one-week format.

The not-so-secret subtext: A handful of players are still in contention for the remaining three singles spots in the PIF WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva, who lost in the Round of 16 to Sonay Kartal in Beijing, are in the best position. The eighth and final position could well go to Elena Rybakina or Jasmine Paolini, depending on who goes deeper in Wuhan.

Later this month, Sabalenka will reach 52 consecutive weeks as the PIF WTA Rankings No. 1 player. She’s won more matches (56), more titles (four) and more money ($12 million) this year than any other woman. Sabalenka, who reached three major finals and all four semifinals, has a nearly 2,500-point lead over Iga Swiatek in the overall rankings and a 1,500-point edge in the Race to the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Sabalenka has a potentially challenging path. She’ll play the winner of the first-round match between Rebecca Sramkova and Anna Kalinskaya in her first match in more than a month. Based on seeding, she’d see No. 8 Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals, No. 4 Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals and No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the final. Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Beijing finalist Linda Noskova (unseeded) are also in her quarter of the draw.

Seven years ago, at the age of 20, Sabalenka was the youngest Wuhan winner to date. Her success there represents the first time a WTA player has won three straight editions of the same WTA 1000 since Serena Williams hit the trifecta in Miami from 2013-15. In the 17 years they’ve been contesting 1000s, no woman has ever scored a four-peat.

Only three women have ever won four consecutive titles at a single WTA event across the past three decades: Monica Seles at the Canadian Open (1995-1998), Venus Williams in New Haven (1999-2002) and Caroline Wozniacki in New Haven (2008-2011).

Sabalenka would love to become the fourth.

“Am I confident about winning for the fourth time?” she mused during her opening press conference. “I don’t know about that, but I can assure you that I will do my best, and hopefully I can claim this beautiful title again.”

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