On Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka stormed past Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-3 in Wuhan to win her biggest career title. In the pair’s first career matchup, the world No. 20 proved too strong. Her aggression, shot placement and serve helped her to overpower the Estonian.

Sabalenka, who won her first WTA title just last month in New Haven, becomes the youngest Wuhan champion and WTA Premier 5 title holder since an 18-year-old Belinda Bencic won the Rogers Cup in 2015.

The Belarusian defeated Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 6 Elina Svitolina and American qualifier Sofia Kenin in her first three match-ups. In the quarterfinals, the 20-year-old was the underdog against the sole remaining seed No. 16 Ashleigh Barty. Undeterred, Sabalenka remained steady in a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win.

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With her win over Kontaveit, Sabalenka will move to a career-high No. 16 in the rankings. She's the last woman standing after the top field struggled to get past the fourth round.

Of the Top 16 seeds, just six were left by the fourth round. No. 13 Daria Kasatkina, No. 3 Angelique Kerber, No. 5 Petra Kvitova, No. 14 Garbine Muguruza and No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki all lost to unseeded players.

Defending champion Caroline Garcia bowed out to Katerina Siniakova in a third set tie-breaker in the second round. With the draw wide open by the quarterfinals, a new champion was guaranteed to be crowned. By the semifinals, four surprise players remained in qualifier Qiang Wang, world No. 27 Anett Kontaveit, world No. 20 Aryna Sabalenka and Barty.

The flurry of upsets in Wuhan was reminiscent of this year’s Wimbledon, where just one (No. 7 Karolina Pliskova) of the Top 10 seeds made it to the third round. With the rise of talented young players like Sabalenka and the level of depth on the WTA tour, the trend may not stop anytime soon.

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Sabalenka emerges
as last woman 
standing in Wuhan

Sabalenka emerges as last woman standing in Wuhan

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