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Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka battled hard Wednesday to keep her unbeaten record in Wuhan intact, having to come from behind to beat Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.The world number one started slowly in her first match since she clinched a fourth Grand Slam title at the US Open last month.But the Belarusian found her power game in the final set to reach the Wuhan Open last 16, where she will face the 16th-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova.Sabalenka is chasing a fourth consecutive crown in Wuhan where she has a perfect 18-0 win-loss record.Sramkova quickly took a 3-1 lead and served out to take the opening set in 35 minutes.Sabalenka shook off the rust in the second and then swept through the decider to win in just under two hours."She played incredible tennis, especially in the first set. There wasn't much I could do against her," said Sabalenka."I knew after that little break (after New York), it will be not that easy to get back in my rhythm."But I'm really glad that in the second set I found my game, I stepped in, and I think I played really great."The other four-time major champion in action on Wednesday, Naomi Osaka, slumped to a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 defeat to last week's Beijing runner-up Linda Noskova."I tried to keep the rallies going as much as I could and staying in the aggressive mode as good as I could," said the Czech, who is at a career-high 17 in the world rankings.Japan's Osaka, the 11th seed, dropped just three points behind her first serve but could not convert any of her four break point opportunities during the 90-minute showdown.Gauff cruiseThird seed Coco Gauff, a semi-finalist in Wuhan last year, booked her place in the last 16 with a smooth 6-1, 6-0 performance against Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima.Gauff was flawless throughout a 51-minute victory that was her 18th on Chinese soil since 2023, the most at WTA level by any player in China during that period.Gauff will square off with Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai for a place in the quarter-finals.In contrast, world number six Jessica Pegula survived a "wild ride", needing seven match points and almost three hours to overcome fellow American Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6).Pegula served for the match twice, at 5-2 and 5-4 in the third set, but Baptiste dug deep to save five match points and took four games in a row for a 6-5 advantage.Pegula steadied the ship to force a tiebreak and she finally wrapped up the victory on her seventh match point."It's been brutal," said Pegula, who will face Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the third round."Match points, then she started playing well, I think I just got a little tentative," admitted Pegula."And that's all it takes sometimes for someone to come back."I'm really proud of myself for how I held it together because I think I easily could have just collapsed. But I held tough, so yeah, that was a wild ride."Heat again played a factor as 12th-seeded Karolina Muchova joined the likes of Emma Raducanu, Jelena Ostapenko and Dayana Yastremska on the list of mid-match retirees in Wuhan.With temperatures soaring above 30C, Muchova struggled with the heat and had her vitals checked on court before she retired while trailing Magdalena Frech 7-6 (7/1), 4-1.

Amanda Anisimova will bid to crown her improbable redemption mission at the US Open today as world number one Aryna Sabalenka seeks to grab her final chance of the year to win a Grand Slam.Two months after suffering a catastrophic 6-0, 6-0 thrashing in the Wimbledon final, Anisimova has bounced back to stand on the brink of completing a fairytale comeback in New York. The 24-year-old eighth seed held her nerve to battle past Naomi Osaka in the semi-finals, winning 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in an instant classic that finished in the early hours Friday morning.For Anisimova, the win represented a personal triumph after the trauma of her drubbing by Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon in July. The American, who took an eight-month break from tennis in 2023 citing burnout and depression, says her success in New York is attributable to the steps she has taken to prioritise her mental health."Obviously, it served me well, and I'm really happy with the choice that I made," Anisimova said of her decision to step away from the sport. "It's clearly paying off now, and I feel like I have a whole new perspective when I step onto the court. Even on regular days or training days, I think I appreciate the process a lot more than I used to."That resilience was on full display in Thursday night's thriller with Osaka, when she banished any negative thoughts to claw her way into the final. "I could have easily said, 'Oh, she's playing better than me, and I can't really do anything,'" Anisimova said afterwards. "I really tried to find a way, any way I could to stay in the match, even though it was extremely tough."Anisimova will also head into today's final armed with the mental muscle memory of having beaten reigning US Open champion Sabalenka in six of their nine previous meetings. That winning record includes a defeat of Sabalenka in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, where she prevailed in another tense three-setter."We've had very, very tough matches," Anisimova said of Sabalenka. "But I think the standout one was probably Wimbledon. It was really a seesaw match, which is almost always the case when I play her."Sabalenka, who advanced to final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of American fourth seed Jessica Pegula, is bracing for another dogfight, admitting she still dwells on her Wimbledon defeat by Anisimova. "I have to trust myself, and I have to go after my shots," she said. "I felt like in that match at Wimby, I was doubting a lot my decisions, and that was the main thing that was bringing a lot of unforced errors. I gave her a lot of opportunities, and of course, she played incredible tennis, but I feel like I had my opportunities. I didn't use them."The 27-year-old from Belarus is also determined to avoid finishing her Grand Slam season empty-handed. The powerful right-hander was beaten in both the Australian and French Open finals this year before her Wimbledon exit, and is in no mood to let another chance to claim a fourth career Grand Slam singles title pass her by.That sense of steely determination was on display at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday as she fought back from a set down to squeeze past Pegula. "I badly wanted to give myself another opportunity, another final, and I want to prove to myself that I learned those tough lessons and I can do better in the finals," said Sabalenka, referencing this season's losses in Melbourne and Paris.Sabalenka is also aiming to achieve something that has become increasingly rare over the years in successfully defending the US Open. No woman has retained the title since Serena Williams won three in a row in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Asked earlier in the tournament for her thoughts on the fact that the last 11 US Open titles have been shared between 10 players, Sabalenka quipped: "My thought is to change it."