Ann Li produced the standout result of Wednesday’s Wuhan draw, overturning a one-set deficit to defeat top seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in a gripping second-round contest that lasted 2 hours and 27 minutes.
The American needed 10 match points before completing the biggest ranking win of her career, finally striking a forehand winner in the deciding tiebreak to earn her first victory over Sabalenka in four WTA Tour meetings.
Li turns Wuhan match around
- Sabalenka seized the opening set 6-3, closing it with an eight-point run.
- Li fell behind by a break at 4-2 in the second set, but immediately changed the direction of the match.
- She claimed nine of the next 11 games, taking the second set 6-4 and moving ahead 5-2 in the decider.
- Sabalenka received treatment during the final set as tape was reapplied to her right leg, then began an emphatic recovery.
- The No. 1 seed saved five match points while holding for 5-3, then wiped out two more at 5-4 with winners from both forehand and backhand.
- After levelling at 5-5, Sabalenka held at love to force the match into a final-set tiebreak.
- She denied two additional match points in the breaker, including one with a forehand that clipped the corner, before Li converted her 10th opportunity.
Li’s 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) win sends her into the third round in Wuhan for the first time. It is also the fourth consecutive WTA 1000 tournament at which she has reached the last 32, a new personal best.
A third Top 10 scalp
The result is Li’s third career win against a Top 10 opponent and her second of the season. More significantly, it surpasses every previous victory in her career by opponent ranking, with Sabalenka entering the Wuhan event as the No. 1 seed.
“It was a crazy match,” Li said on court. She acknowledged that her start had been below her target and that several chances slipped away, but credited Sabalenka for raising her level under pressure. Li said her focus was to take the contest point by point while continuing to attack.
Sabalenka’s exit removes the leading seed from this section of the Wuhan WTA 1000 draw, while Li moves on with the most significant upset of her career.
