Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka saved nine match points before losing in three sets to Ann Li at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday. The four-time major winner needed treatment on her taped-up right knee during a dramatic last-32 match.
Li came back from 4-2 down in the second set to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). She clinched victory on her 10th match point, but it was the first one she had on her own serve.
It is the second straight loss for Sabalenka, a three-time champion in Wuhan. She lost to Nikola Bartunkova in the round of 32 at the China Open last week. Her previous event was the U.S. Open, where she lost in the final to Elena Rybakina.
A Dramatic Deciding Set
Sabalenka trailed 4-1 in the deciding set when she called for treatment on her right knee, which was already taped. She then fell behind 5-2 before recovering to 5-5 and forcing a tiebreaker. Li hit a big forehand winner on her last match point to secure one of the biggest wins of her career.
Earlier, second-seeded Jessica Pegula squandered three match points and lost to Jelena Ostapenko in three sets. It was Pegula’s first match in more than a month. Ostapenko won 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 in an unlikely comeback, saving match points on three occasions in the second set.
Pegula, a finalist in Wuhan last year, had taken an extended break and missed events in Singapore and Beijing because of the physical toll of her busy summer schedule. She had last played in the U.S. Open semifinals, where she lost to Sabalenka.
Swiatek, Svitolina and Muchova Advance
Iga Swiatek had a much easier time, advancing to the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Magdalena Frech. The six-time major winner started slowly, dropping an early service game and falling behind 2-0. She then won six straight games to take the first set and continued her momentum by winning four straight games to open the second. Seeded seventh, Swiatek reached the quarterfinals of the recent China Open in Beijing.
In other second-round matches, fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. No. 170-ranked Sonay Kartal upset ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic 6-0, 7-5. Sixth-seeded Karolina Muchova beat Caty McNally 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) and will next face Diana Shnaider.