Aryna Sabalenka was ‘really glad’ she lost match after Coco Gauff handed her reality check

Aryna Sabalenka believes her defeat to Coco Gauff at last year’s US Open has helped to improve the mental aspect of her game. The 26-year-old recently secured her fourth WTA title of the year at the Wuhan Open, beating home favourite Qinwen Zheng in the final.

The capacity crowd threw their support behind Zheng but were eventually silenced, with Sabalenka pulling through in three sets. She fought hard after being pegged back by her rival in the second set to claim an impressive 6-3 5-7 6-3 victory.

After the match, Sabalenka explained that her defeat to Gauff in the final of last year’s US Open was a blessing in disguise. She was overawed by the crowd supporting Gauff on that occasion but did not make the same mistake against Zheng in Wuhan.

“I’m not really focusing on the crowd when they’re against me anymore,” said Sabalenka. “I’m just focusing on myself and my team. I’m trying to stay focused and keep thinking what I have to do on court.

Like, just thinking about tactics and technical issues. I don’t really hear them. I think that match against Coco last year gave me a lot. I’m actually really glad I lost that match because I think it was better for me.

“I learned a lot. Right now, if the crowd is against me, I’m okay with that. I don’t really hear them. I’m focusing on different things.”

Sabalenka’s victory over Zheng marked her third successive triumph at the Wuhan Open and saw her close in on Iga Swiatek at the top of the world rankings. She will be hoping to finish the year strongly by claiming more silverware at the year-end WTA Finals.

That’s a really tight ranking right now, really nice to see,” she added. “I always say of course it’s one of the goals, but I prefer to focus on myself and just keep working hard. We’ll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season.”

Reflecting on her hard-fought win over Zheng, Sabalenka said: “It was a tough match. I was up with a break in the second set, then I just lost my focus for a little bit and it became a three-set match.

“But it was a great level match, it was a great fight. Of course, I’m super happy to win this beautiful trophy.”