Aryna Sabalenka continues winning ways at Wuhan

Aryna Sabalenka extended her winning streak at the Wuhan Open to 19 matches with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Liudmila Samsonova in third-round action on Thursday.

The top-seeded Belarusian recorded six aces at the WTA 1000 tournament to dispatch the 16th-seeded Russian in 75 minutes.

Sabalenka won the title at Wuhan in 2018, 2019 and 2024. Her 19-0 record in the tournament marks the longest such streak at any event since Caroline Wozniacki won her first 20 matches at New Haven with three titles between 2008 and 2012.

Sabalenka advanced to the quarterfinals against eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Ukraine, who breezed to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.

Also on Thursday, sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula played in her sixth straight three-set match and earned a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Pegula won four of her last five games to improve to 5-1 in her last six matches.

"I can't remember the last time I played two sets," Pegula said. "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."

Second-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland collected eight aces and converted four of six break points in a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over No. 13 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.

"For sure I wanted to play with confidence and make great decisions and not let her dictate," Swiatek said. "It was super hard and every game was tough. That's why it was two sets in over two hours. I'm happy that I was there in the deciding moments to be solid and play one more shot."

Swiatek advanced to face seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini, who overcame slow start to defeat Denmark's Clara Tauson. Paolini was leading 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 when Tauson retired due to injury.

Also on Thursday, third-seeded Coco Gauff had three aces and overcame six double faults to dispatch China's Shuai Zhang, 6-3, 6-2 in a swift 60 minutes.

"It was a little bit up and down," acknowledged Gauff, who has only dropped six games through two matches. "But happy to be into the next round."