Can Gauff and Sabalenka continue? The Wuhan quarterfinals await

Friday's quarterfinals at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open offer a little bit of everything. First of all, four of the top five seeds are through.

It starts with No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, seeking her fourth title of the year – and her third in her last four events.

There's the hot Popcorn Night match between No. 3 Jasmine Paolini and No. 5 Zheng Qinwen while No. 4 Coco Gauff is in action, as well as an unexpected unseeded clash between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Wang Xinyu.

Wuhan: Scores | schedule | Pulls

Poland also has two survivors (none named Swiatek), two Magdas, such as Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.

Let's break it down:

Upper half

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Magdalena Frech, Friday, not before 3 p.m. local time

Head-to-head: 0-0

How they got here: Sabalenka won 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 over Yulia Putintseva, while Frech defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2.

Sabalenka lost six of seven games in a discouraging first set but managed to win 12 of the last 16. It was her sixth comeback win of the year at a WTA 1000, the most of any player.

Remarkably, it was her 11th^Th Back-to-back WTA Tour quarterfinals, something only Iga Swiatek has achieved in the last 15 years.

“Honestly (first set) I couldn’t do anything,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “Somehow I managed to find my serve, step in and put pressure on her. I felt like everything I did was going in.”

That’s the mindset of a champion. Sabalenka won 17 of 28 return points in the decisive third set. After ending her 15-game winning streak in the Beijing quarter-finals, Karolina Muchova has now won 17 of 19 games – and 14 in a row in Wuhan, where she attempted a rare treble to regain titles in 2018 and 2019.

However, Frech is on a great run, winning 10 of 11 matches dating back to her Guadalajara 500 title. She defeated number 6 seed Emma Navarro and now number 9 seed Haddad Maia in the second round.

This is the biggest quarterfinal of Frech's career.

No. 4 Coco Gauff vs. Magda Linette, Friday, 11 a.m

Head-to-head: Gauff 1-0, a three-set win in the first round at the 2021 US Open

How they got here: Gauff defeated No. 13 Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-1. Magda Linette won 6:2, 6:3 against number 8 Daria Kasatkina.

Credit Gauff with some courage as the season comes to a close. She won the title in Beijing last week and the victory over Kostyuk was her eighth in a row.

“When I go to Wuhan, I feel no pressure, nothing at all, just because Beijing is over, it's a thing of the past,” Gauff told reporters. “If you look at some of the players who made it to the (Beijing) semi-finals, almost all of them gave up except for me and Qinwen because it was such a quick turnaround.

“It wasn’t really a thought in my head. I just wanted to push myself to figure out how to play while I'm tired, because I'm tired, I'm not going to sit here and lie.”

Only Swiatek (30) and Sabalenka (24) have won more WTA 1000 matches this year than the 20-year-old Gauff (22).

Linette has had an impressive journey in Wuhan, winning three games in a row for the first time since winning the title in Prague in July. She won all five sets, including her first-round match against No. 11 seed Liudmila Samsonova and a second-round victory over Lesia Tsurenko by stoppage.

Lower half

No. 3 Jasmine Paolini vs. No. 5 Zheng Qinwen, Friday, 7 p.m

Head-to-head: Zheng, 2-0, won four of five sets in the Palermo final and the semifinals in Zhengzhou last year.

How they got here: Zheng came back to beat Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. Paolini won 6:3, 6:2 over lucky loser Erika Andreeva.

The win over Fernandez was a big victory for Zheng, who is fighting Emma Navarro for a place in the WTA finals in Riyadh. The Chinese favorite – and Olympic singles gold medalist – lost to Muchova in the semi-finals in Beijing.

“The game was tough for me because when I entered the field I felt a stomach ache,” Zheng said afterwards. “So I’m really happy to get this match even though I’m not in my physical.”

Zheng plays successfully in China. This century, only Serena Williams has a higher winning percentage among players with 15 or more games in this country – the 21-year-old already has an outstanding record of 14-3.

Notable: Only Emma Navarro (18) has won more matches in three sets at WTA Tour events this year than Zheng (17).

Paolini is now in her sixth quarterfinal of the year and her first since Wimbledon. It was a historic season for the 28-year-old from Italy.

That was her 13th^Th Winning a WTA 1000 this year – among Italians, only Sara Errani (19) and Roberta Vinci (14) have more in a single season. Additionally, only Swiatek (45), Sabalenka (42) and Gauff (38) have won more games in 2024 than Paolini's 31.

Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Wang Xinyu, Friday, according to Gauff-Linette

Head-to-head: 1-1 Alexandrova won the last game in Cleveland last year after losing their first meeting in Indian Wells.

How they got here: Alexandrova defeated rising American qualifier Hailey Baptiste 6-1, 6-1. Wang pulled off the biggest upset of the round of 16, defeating No. 2 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5.

Pegula had won 11 consecutive games against players outside the top 50, but Wang beat her for the second time in two meetings. With Pegula in third place, it was her biggest victory in terms of the rankings.

Wang is the second Chinese player to defeat a top 10 at the Wuhan Open, after Wang Qiang, who beat Karolina Pliskova as a wildcard in 2018.

“I played against her twice,” Wang said of Alexandrova. “I actually practiced with her. I understand that she plays very fast. I will concentrate on my serve games. I can do better so I have less pressure on returns.”

There were some upsets early on – reaching the final in Linz and the semifinals of the Miami Open – that propelled Alexandrova to a career-high 15th place in April. But Alexandrova traveled to Wuhan with a 23-22 singles record.

She opened with two wins in three sets over Sofia Kenin and No. 10 seed Anna Kalinskaya – and then defeated Baptiste in just under 63 minutes.