Aryna Sabalenka (2nd WTA) in Wuhan she won in 2018 and 2019, and later the competition did not take place in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began. In 2024, the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan returned to the world tour and the Belarusian turned out to be the best again. Thanks to this, she is just a little behind Iga Świątek in the WTA ranking.
Aryna Sabalenka is chasing Iga Świątek. She's just a hair's breadth away from being Polish
In the final of the WTA 1000 tournament, Sabalenka faced Qinwen Zheng (7th WTA). The hosts' representative had no chance against the extremely strong Belarusian, who won the match 6:3, 5:7, 6:3 and won in Wuhan for the third time in a row. Thanks to this, 1,000 ranking points will be added to her account in Monday's ranking.
Sabalenka will have a total of 9,716 of them, which will not only allow her to consolidate her second place, but also get closer to Iga Świątek. In fact, the Belarusian is only 69 points behind the Pole, because the leader's achievements amount to 9,785 points. Świątek has not played in recent weeks, so she did not gain any points, and she also lost them by withdrawing from Tokyo or Beijing.
WTA Live ranking after Sabalenka's win in Wuhan:
- Iga Świątek (Poland) – 9,785 points
- Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) – 9,716 points
- Coco Gauff (USA) – 5983 points
- Jessica Pegula (USA) – 5,785 points
- Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) – 5,481 points
- Jasmine Paolini (Italy) – 5,323 points
- Qinwen Zheng (China) – 4,480 points
- Emma Navarro (USA) – 3698 points
- Danielle Collins (USA) – 3177 points
- Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) – 3,096 points
At the moment, Sabalenka is in second place, but just before the WTA Finals she will become the leader of the world ranking again. All because before the prestigious tournament, the players will have their points for the Finals from last year deducted. Świątek won, so she will lose 1,500 points, and Sabalenka was eliminated against the Pole in the semi-final, so she will lose 625 points.
The WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia are scheduled to start on November 2. There Iga ¦wiatek will be able to regain its position and finish the year in first place in the world ranking.