WTA: Aryna Sabalenka wins biggest career title in Wuhan

Aryna Sabalenka celebrated her greatest career success at the WTA Premier 5 Tournament in Wuhan: The Belarusian defeated in the final Anett Kontaveit from Estonia in two sets with 6:3 and 6:3.

Aryna Sabalenka continues her way to the top of the world: 20-year-old Belarusian Anett Kontaveit from Estonia beat the WTA Premier 5 final 6:3 and 6:3 after 72 minutes of playing time and celebrated her second victory on the WTA Tour this summer after her success in New Haven.

Kontaveit was the first player to show nerves, helped Sabalenka in the fourth game with a devious Smash and a double fault. The easy favourite took the break to 3-1 and after a little more than half an hour Sabalenka had won the first set.

The decision in the second set was made in the seventh game, in which Sabalenka took the lead with the break to 4:3.

Kontaveit had had a strong spring series and reached the final round at the clay court tournaments in Stuttgart and Rome. At the French Open, the 22-year-old lost in the round of 16 to the later finalist Sloane Stephens. Sabalenka, on the other hand, had a really good run in the past weeks, starting with the semi-finals in Cincinnati, then her success in New Haven and the round of 16 at the US Open, where she was the only player to win a set against Naomi Osaka.

The way into the final was a bit more comfortable for Kontaveit than for her opponent: Not a single law had to defeat the Estonian. Sabalenka, on the other hand, eliminated Elina Svitolina and last year’s finalist Ashleigh Barty.

For her greatest career triumph, Aryna Sabalenka not only received prize money of 503,725 US dollars – but also 900 points for the WTA world rankings. The winner of Wuhan is now fully in business in the Porsche Race to Singapore.

Next week, both players will be back in action: the WTA Premier Mandatory tournament in Beijing is calling, Sabalenka and Kontaveit will follow suit. Due to the commitment in Wuhan, both players received a walk-through in round one.