Leylah Fernandez ousted from singles play at Wuhan Open, advances in doubles

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez dropped a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 decision to Zheng Qinwen of China in third-round singles play Thursday at the Wuhan Open in China but won her doubles match in straight sets.

Fernandez, from Laval, Que., teamed with Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi for a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Shuai Zhang of China and Belgium’s Elise Mertens in second-round action.

Top-ranked Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe previously secured a spot in the quarterfinals.

WATCH | Fernandez eliminated by Zheng in 3rd round of Wuhan Open:

Coco Gauff advanced to the singles quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of 17th-ranked Marta Kostyuk in just over an hour.

It was the fourth-ranked Gauff’s eighth consecutive win on the WTA Tour’s Asian swing after the American won the China Open last week which moved her back into the top five in the rankings.

Gauff fired two aces and broke the Ukrainian’s serve five times — for the loss of one of her own — as she clinched a one-sided match and extended her lead in their head-to-head series to 3-1.

Next for Gauff is No. 45-ranked Magda Linette, who continued her impressive form this week by beating eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3.

“Yeah, so she’s a tough opponent,” Gauff said of Linette. “We haven’t played since (the U.S. Open in 2021). I really don’t know what to expect. But just from watching her play, she’s been playing a great couple of matches here in Wuhan.

“I expect it to be a tough match. She’s not an easy opponent to play.”

Pegula upended by 51st-ranked Xinyu

Gauff will be the only American left in the draw after third-ranked Jessica Pegula and tour rookie Hailey Baptiste both lost.

Pegula, the U.S. Open finalist, had a tough afternoon against the 51st-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who was dominant on serve throughout and clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win to make her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

Wang had won their only previous meeting in three sets in the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year and got off to a fast start here by breaking Pegula twice in the opening set to take the lead.

After her first win over a top 10 player in the previous round, Baptiste was routed 6-1, 6-1 by Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini defeated Erika Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.

Sabalenka 14-0 in Wuhan

Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka rallied from a set down to beat No. 35 Yulia Putintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to maintain her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open and rise to the top of the WTA rankings.

Thursday’s win for the Belarussian allowed her to regain top spot in the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who is absent from the women’s Asian swing citing personal reasons and fatigue.

Sabalenka, the U.S. Open champion, is 14-0 in Wuhan after winning the title on her first appearance in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 before the tournament took a five-year hiatus from the calendar due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The three-time major winner started slowly but roared to life during the second set and carried that momentum through the decider to clinch a quarterfinal spot against Beatriz Haddad-Maia or Magdalena Frech.

Sabalenka finished with 44 winners to 33 unforced errors, while holding Putintseva to 13 winners and 14 unforced errors.

Sinner cruises to Shanghai semifinals

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner advanced to his fifth ATP Masters semifinal of the season as the Italian swept aside fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev in straight sets at the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.

Sinner started strongly and only faced one break point in his 6-1, 6-4 master class over the Russian, who needed treatment on his shoulder from the physiotherapist during the second set.

“Obviously I’m very happy how I handled today and this match,” Sinner said. “It felt like he had a bit of shoulder pain and couldn’t hit his forehand as well as he wished to. Hopefully he can recover as fast as possible, but from my side it was a great match, a great battle, and let’s see what I can do now in the semifinals.”

With Thursday’s win, the two-time major winner has levelled his head-to-head series against Medvedev at 7-7, but has won seven of the last eight meetings with the Russian.

It moved Sinner to his first semifinal in Shanghai and he will play second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, in a rematch of their thrilling duel from the China Open last week.

Alcaraz’s 12-match winning streak was ended by Tomas Machac 7-6 (5), 7-5.

It was No. 33 Machac’s third tour-level quarterfinal, and the Czech player proved more than a match for the four-time major-winning Spaniard as he earned his second win over a top-five opponent this year in two hours.

Machac will play top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.

“I knew that the level of my tennis would be great because I am playing the best right now, for sure,” Machac said. “I beat Tommy Paul [in my] last match with an unbelievable performance. With these types of players, I have to play this level otherwise it’s 6-2, 6-3 [and] you go home, there is no other option.