"I feel good" - Aryna Sabalenka targeting fourth title in Wuhan after brief hiatus from action

US Open champion and world number one Aryna Sabalenka ins ready to step back onto the court, as she targets more success on the main stage in the Wuhan Open.

It has been a busy season for the Belarusian, but a fantastic one, as she has added more titles and Grand Slams to her ever-growing collection, the latest coming in Flushing Meadows after defeating Amanda Anisimova in the final to clinch her second US Open victory and fourth major title. Amongst it has been heartbreaking defeats in the three previous Grand Slams, but she has now firmly put that behind her.

She joins the likes of Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, and Mirra Andreeva, among others eyeing up glory, as they look to finish 2025 on a positive.

Since triumphing in New York, Sabalenka has tactically skipped a lot of the Asian swing, as she recovers ahead of what is set to be a jam-packed end to the season. She is still the number one in the world, but the inform Swiatek is breathing down her neck, defending a lot less points after a drop off in form from the Pole at the end of 2024. However, after a month away from the sport, Sabalenka now feels that it is the right time to make her return.

"I feel good," Sabalenka said. "I just didn't want to rush my body into the tournament, so I think we made the right decision to take extra time for recovery and for the preparation, and now physically, I feel ready to go."

So far this season, she has won two WTA 1000 titles in Miami and Madrid, made the Australian Open final along with semi-final appearances in Roland Garros and Wimbledon before the success in the US Open, and has made it to eight finals in 2025, coming out on top in just three of them. Overall, she has stated that her season has so far been a success.

"I would rate my season as a pretty successful season," she said. "The goal is to stay the same, to improve myself every day, to keep the position of world number one, to see how far I can get in this sport and how much I can win."

Sabalenka has dominated the Wuhan Open, coming out on top in the last three events, making it her event to lose. Her first appearance at the event came back in 2018, where she stormed to her first 1000 title, defeating former world number two Anett Kontaveit in straight sets to clinch the title.

A year later, she returned with a bang, becoming the first person to defend the title. It took three sets to defeat American Alison Riske in the final, but a commanding final set was enough to commence more celebrations in Wuhan.

Unfortunately for Sabalenka, the tournament was put on hold between 2020-2023 with the outbreak of COVID-19. In this time period, Sabalenka continued to grow as a tennis player, becoming one of the dominant forces on the WTA circuit. She was a three-time Grand Slam champion and previous number one in the world when the tournament was finally re-opened in 2024. She continued where she left off, upsetting the home fans by beating Chinese star Zheng Qinwen to carry on her unbeaten streak in Wuhan, and claim her third title.

She now firmly has a fourth triumph on her mind, with action beginning on 6th October. Sabalenka will begin her title defence against either Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova, or world number 29 Anna Kalinskaya, which is set to be played on 7th October.