Aryna Sabalenka tops Katerina Siniakova, stays perfect in Wuhan

Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka recorded a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Czech Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the Wuhan Open on Wednesday in China.

Sabalenka followed up a first-round bye by benefitting from seven double faults by Siniakova to win the match in 94 minutes and improve to 13-0 all-time in Wuhan. The Belarus native won the tournament in 2018 and defended the title in 2019 before the event went on hiatus for five years.

"I missed Wuhan a lot," Sabalenka said. "I just have really good memories of winning, two times, the title here. Just Wuhan brings me a lot of great memories, good vibes."

Sabalenka recorded 21 winners and converted four of her 12 break points to advance to face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Putintseva upended 15th-seeded Donna Vekic, a Czech, with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 decision on Wednesday.

In other action at the WTA 1000 tournament, second-seeded Jessica Pegula, third-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy, fourth-seeded Coco Gauff, fifth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China and ninth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia each posted convincing victories in their respective second-round matches.

Pegula won 9 of 14 of her first-serve points and was credited with a 6-2, 2-0 victory over Anastasia Potapova after the Russian retired due to a right ankle injury.

Paolini won 27 of 37 of her first-serve points in a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Yue Yuan of China.

Gauff fired five aces in her 6-1, 6-2 win over Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria.

Zheng became the first Chinese woman to secure 40 wins since Li Na in 2013 after seizing a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Jaqueline Cristian of Romania.

Brazil's Haddad Maia converted four of five break points and saved the same number in a 6-1, 6-4 win over Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.

Mirra Andreeva, the No. 16 seed, wasn't as fortunate, however -- against her own sister, no less. Erika Andreeva, 20, posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Mirra, 17.

The Andreevas, of Russia, were the third set of siblings to face each other in a WTA Tour main event draw in the past decade, joining Serena and Venus Williams and Czech twins Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova. It was the first such meeting since the Serena defeated Venus in the second round at Lexington in 2020 in their 31st -- and final -- tour clash.

Also Wednesday, Magdalena Frech of Poland notched a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over sixth-seeded Emma Navarro, and Hailey Baptiste seized a 6-3, 7-5 victory over seventh-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.

Daria Kasatkina of Russia, the ninth seed, needed three sets to defeat Bernarda Pera.

--Field Level Media