Sabalenka eases into Wuhan quarters, Pegula taken the distance again

Aryna Sabalenka eased into the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open with a one-sided victory over Liudmila Samsonova, while Jessica Pegula won another three-set battle against Ekaterina Alexandrova.

World number

one Sabalenka won 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes on Thursday to reach her 30th quarter-final at WTA 1000 events.

That is the joint sixth-most by any player since the format's 2009 introduction, alongside Serena Williams.

Sabalenka had to wait until the sixth game to get the decisive break in the opening set, but she was more dominant in the second, breaking at the very first opportunity.

She barely gave her opponent a sniff, winning 86% of her first-serve points and breaking again in game seven before converting her first match point when Samsonova's return ran long.

Sabalenka will face either Elena Rybakina or Linda Noskova in the last eight, while Pegula remains a potential semi-final opponent.

19 wins in a row for @SabalenkaA in Wuhan #WuhanOpen pic.twitter.com/37ckJItKia

— wta (@WTA) October 9, 2025

The American teed up a meeting with either Iva Jovic or Katerina Siniakova by beating Alexandrova 5-7 6-3 3-6 in her sixth straight match to go the distance.

"I can't remember the last time I played two sets," Pegula said afterwards. "But I've been competing really hard and I've been playing a lot of really good players.

"It was different conditions today with the roof closed and I think it took us a little while to get adjusted, but then I felt like it was a really high level there for the rest of the match. "

Data Debrief: Sabalenka's favourite event

Sabalenka is now 19-0 at the Wuhan Open, and she is into her fourth quarter-final at the event, which she has won on three occasions.

Since the introduction of WTA 1000 tournaments in 2009, Sabalenka is the second active player to make the last eight on her first four appearances in a single city, after Victoria Azarenka in Tokyo.

Pegula, meanwhile, is the oldest player to reach the last eight at both the China Open and the Wuhan Open in the same season, at the age of 31 years and 224 days.