There comes a point in a tennis match when the player who keeps missing chances starts to doubt herself. Ann Li never reached it. Having watched nine match points vanish against Aryna Sabalenka, the American struck a forehand down the line on the tenth to finish a draining Wuhan Open second-round duel lasting two hours and 27 minutes – the finest result of her career.
Little hinted at drama early on. Sabalenka, the top seed and three-time champion in Wuhan, cruised through the opening set and was a break up in the second. Li, ranked 31st, then began to vary the pace, slicing her backhand low and teeing off with her forehand, and drew level. In the decider she raced to 5-2 before the Belarusian dug in, saving five match points in one marathon service game, two more at 4-5 and another pair in the tie-break. When the dust settled, Li had taken the second set and the tie-break. She served eight aces; Sabalenka racked up 44 unforced errors.
The defeat adds to a worrying pattern for the world number two. Playing with strapping on her right knee, she called for the trainer in the third set, and it was her second straight loss to a lower-ranked opponent after Nikola Bartunkova beat her in Beijing last week. Sabalenka gave up the top ranking to Elena Rybakina at the US Open and has not lifted a trophy since March.
Li – the daughter of Chinese immigrants to America – delighted the home crowd by switching into Mandarin on court and described the contest as “crazy”. Janice Tjen of Indonesia is next.
It was a bad day for the favourites: second seed Jessica Pegula fell to Jelena Ostapenko, while Britain’s Sonay Kartal ousted Belinda Bencic. Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, brushed aside fellow Pole Magdalena Frech to reach forty wins for the season.
