Thursday was quarterfinal day at the Wuhan Open and the semifinal lineup is set: Anett Kontaveit will take on Qiang Wang in the first semi, followed by No. 16 seed Ashleigh Barty against Aryna Sabalenka.

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was the first through to the semifinals, taking out Dominika Cibulkova, 7-5, 6-3. The hard-hitting Sabalenka can blow almost anyone off the court on any given day as she’s done often this summer, defeating seven Top 10 players, winning her maiden WTA title in New Haven prior to the US Open and compiling a 17-4 record since July.

 

In the second match, Australian Ashleigh Barty took to the court against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The Russian won their only encounter in 2018, on the clay of Strasbourg, but the pressure was squarely on Barty, both as the only seed remaining in the quarterfinals and as last year’s runner-up. Barty started out the faster of the two, taking the first set, 6-2. However, Pavlyuchenkova upped her aggression level to make the next two sets very competitive. In the end, the young Australian prevailed, moving through 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. “Very tough match. Could have gone either way in the end,” Barty said after the match. “We've got another opportunity in a semifinal. First and foremost we'll go out there tomorrow and try to be in with our best to get a crack at another title,” said Barty, hoping to go one further than last year. To do that, she’ll have to get past Sabalenka. The last time the two faced each other was in the first round at this year’s Australian Open, and it couldn’t have been a tighter affair, with Barty squeaking past, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

The second semifinal will feature China’s Qiang Wang, continuing her fairy tale run in Asia. On Thursday, she defeated No. 51 Monica Puig, 6-3, 6-1. “Today's win makes me very, very happy. This is the first time that I entered the semifinals at a Premier 5, so I'm really happy today,” she said after the match. She credits her recent success in Asia to being able to eat Chinese food. “The whole year I'm trying to search for Chinese food wherever I'm playing the game. I think, yes, Chinese food is the most important thing.” She added: “As long as you can recover with great diet, you can play well.” She’ll need another helping of home cooking as she summons the energy for one final push this week. Wang will face Anett Kontaveit, who took out Katerina Siniakova, 6-4, 6-4.

The doubles semifinals are also set, with Shuko Aoyama and Lidziya Marozava taking on No. 6 seeds Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs in the first match on Centre Court. Mertens and Schuurs most recently reached the finals of Cincinnati and the quarterfinals of the US Open.

In the final match of the day, the Anastasi(j)as, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasija Sevastova face No. 2 seeds Andreas Sestini Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova.

For complete results, or to buy tickets to the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, visit: www.wuhanopen.org and www.4008702014.com