Two of tennis’s prestigious events came to a close in Asia on Sunday, as Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the Wuhan Open and Jannik Sinner of Italy won the Shanghai Masters. In Sunday’s final in Wuhan, Sabalenka defeated Qinwen Zheng of China, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. In Sunday’s final in Shanghai, Sinner defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 7-6, 6-3.
A major reason why Sabalenka defeated Zheng came down to the serve. Sabalenka had seven aces compared to one double fault. Zheng had five aces and eight double faults.
Sabalenka, the first seed in Wuhan, only had to beat two seeded players to win the tournament. In addition to Zheng, the fifth seed, Sabalenka beat Coco Gauff of the United States, the fourth seed, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals.
This was Sabalenka’s fourth title of 2024. She also won the Australian Open, Cincinnati Open and United States Open. Sabalenka also moved a little closer to Iga Swiatek of Poland for the top spot in the WTA world rankings. Swiatek has 9785 points, and Sabalenka has 9716 points.
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, like Sabalenka in Wuhan, Sinner had the advantage in the men’s final when it came to the serve. Sinner had eight aces compared to four for Djokovic. Sinner also was the better player in the first set tiebreak as he beat Djokovic 7-4.
Djokovic was one of five seeded players Sinner beat in Shanghai. Sinner also won 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 over the 31st seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina in round three, 6-4, 7-6 over the 16th seed Ben Shelton of the United States in the fourth round, 6-1-, 6-4 over the fifth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the quarterfinals, and 6-4, 7-5 over the 30th seed Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
Sinner has now won seven titles in 2024. He has also won the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open, Miami Open, Halle Open, Cincinnati Open, and United States Open.
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