Sabalenka races into QF after Nole boost

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka raced into a fourth consecutive Wuhan Open quarterfinal yesterday, having revealed she spent time on holiday last month practising with Novak Djokovic.

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Sabalenka, in contrast to her rusty start against Rebecca Sramkova the day before, came out firing from the get-go to blow away Russia's world No.20 Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2 at the WTA 1000 tournament.

The match was played under a closed centre court roof on another hot day in China, where the start of play on outside courts was delayed to 2.30pm from 11am.

Sabalenka, whose unbeaten match run in Wuhan extended to 19-0 as she seeks a fourth straight title in the central Chinese city, took a month off after winning her fourth Grand Slam title at the US Open in early September.

She went on holiday to Greece, where she spent time hitting with former No.1 Djokovic, who is a resident there.