Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to defend the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open title since the tournament was established in 2014, beating unseeded American Alison Riske 6-3 3-6 6-1 in Saturday’s final.
The world No.14 Sabalenka won five of the first six games in the first set. In the second set, even though the ninth-seeded Sabalenka hit as many as nine aces to her opponent’s zero, Riske never faced a break point and converted one of her four break chances to send the match to the decider in which Sabalenka regained control and sealed her fourth career WTA title, third on Chinese soil.