Qinwen Zheng names the mistake she made in previous matches against Aryna Sabalenka ahead of the Wuhan Open final

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In a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, Aryna Sabalenka and Qinwen Zheng will face off for the Wuhan title.

After Qinwen Zheng rallied past Jasmine Paolini, a homegrown finalist in China was confirmed. 

Xinyu Wang, who shocked Jessica Pegula in the fourth round, recovered against Ekaterina Alexandrova to reach her maiden WTA 1000 semi-final.

However, with Olympic champion Zheng in hot pursuit of another chance against Aryna Sabalenka, she eased into the last two.

With revenge on her mind, Zheng explained what she plans to do differently to try and scupper the Belarusian’s ambitions to rise to the world number one spot. 

Qinwen Zheng reveals what she will do differently in the Wuhan Open final

Having played each other three times, twice at the US Open and once in the Melbourne final, Sabalenka is yet to lose a set.

With their latest match at Flushing Meadows seeing Zheng win just three games, she’ll need a much better performance today.

With Sabalenka having narrowly avoided an exit against both Yulia Putintseva and Coco Gauff however, she is looking a little more vulnerable than she did in New York. 

Zheng explained, via Punto de Break, what exactly went wrong last time: “I need to relax mentally because in the last two encounters, I overthought things and couldn’t play my best tennis. 

I hope to perform well and then focus on strategy. I just wish that tomorrow I can perform better than last time because my attitude has changed. I need to maintain balance; she is very aggressive, but so am I.”

A win for Aryna Sabalenka takes her inches away from number one

She has made her dreams very clear – Sabalenka wants to beat Iga Swiatek to WTA number one status – and they look set to come true.

With Swiatek withdrawing from Beijing and Wuhan after a coaching change, she sacrificed a chunk of WTA points, leaving the door ajar for her rival. 

Sabalenka’s hopes were dented in the capital with a defeat to Karolina Muchova, her first since the start of Cincinnati Open in mid-August.

Having recovered to beat a double-faulting Gauff, the number two can go within fewer than 100 points of Swiatek.

With a handful of events still to come, her momentum does not look like letting up anytime soon – she might just have the perfect ending she’s craving.