Aryna Sabalenka secured her third straight Wuhan Open title with a hard fought victory over Zheng Qinwen in Sunday’s final.

WUHAN, China, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Top seed Aryna Sabalenka shook off a second-set blip to win three back-to-back Wuhan Open titles after beating Chinese fifth seed and home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6-3 5-7 6-3 in the final on Sunday.

The Wuhan final definitely brought some positive points to the Chinese and showed her that she could compete against the three-time Grand Slam champion. But the outcome was again the same and the Belarusian now has a 4-0 head-to-head against the same player she beat in this year's final at Melbourne Park.

Aryna Sabalenka becomes the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times by defeating home hope Zheng Qinwen in Sunday's final.

Aryna Sabalenka lost her focus and was her own worst enemy at times during her 6-3 5-7 6-3 win over home favourite Zheng Qinwen in the Wuhan Open final, the world number two said on Sunday. Sabalenka eased through the opener but lost some control in the second set against the Paris Olympics gold medallist before securing her third straight title in Wuhan.

Aryna Sabalenka credits her recent victory at the Wuhan Open to a key lesson learned from her US Open defeat to Coco Gauff. Sabalenka, who fell to Gauff amidst intense crowd pressure at Flushing Meadows,

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka shook off a second-set blip to win three back-to-back Wuhan Open titles after beating Chinese fifth seed and home favourite Zheng Qinwen 6-3 5-7 6-3 in the final on Sunday. Sabalenka,

Qinwen Zheng was unable to contain her frustration as she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Wuhan Open final, with the home favourite involved in an angry exchange with a line judge