Aryna Sabalenka admits she is missing the competition from one of her main rivals at this year’s Wuhan Open.
The Belarussian is the top seed at the WTA 1000 event due to the withdrawal of world No.1 Iga Swiatek, who hasn’t played since the US Open. Sabalenka is currently the most formidable force in women’s tennis after winning 16 out of her last 17 matches on the Tour. Her latest victory was against Czech player Katerina Siniakova who she beat 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of Wuhan on Wednesday.
Sabalenka’s surge comes as her Polish opponent takes a brief break from the Tour after recently confirming the departure of her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. Swiatek is currently in the process of finding a replacement and has said little on the matter apart from wanting to work with somebody who is not from the same country as her.
“I love having this competition and I love seeing her in the draw,” Sabalenka said of Swiatek.
“.I love to get to the finals and face her. It’s always great battles. I always enjoy fights against her.
“I hope she’ll figure out the coach situation and she’ll be back in the Finals (WTA Finals) in her best shape. Hopefully, we can play against each other there.”
The two tennis players will be fighting for the year-end No.1 position at the end-of-season event, which will be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time. Sabalenka can boost her chances of claiming the position by winning the Wuhan title. She has already spent eight weeks at the top of the rankings which was between September 11th and November 5th last year.
“I’m trying to focus on myself and make sure that I play my best tennis and make sure I still have this opportunity to become world No. 1 at the end of the year.” She said.
“I think it’s (being year-end No.1) been my goal since I was little. This is something that shows that I’m on the right way, I’m working on the right things. Especially having this rivalry with Iga is something big for tennis and something much needed, I would say, in women’s tennis. To kind of keep this competition going would be really good for tennis.”
Sabalenka will next play Yulia Putintseva.
