How many titles has Aryna Sabalenka won in 2024?

Aryna Sabalenka clinched her third Wuhan Open title this season.

Aryna Sabalenka made a winning return to Wuhan with the WTA 1000 event making a comeback to the WTA Tour calendar for the first time since 2019. She is now the first three-time champion at the venue and the reigning queen of hard court events. The win also propelled her to the top spot in the rankings.

The 2024 season so far has seen Sabalenka win four titles and all of them have come on hard courts. Her win in Wuhan ensured that she would be on top of the rankings. The 26-year-old has now collected 9706 points. After Wimbledon, Sabalenka was trailing the top spot by over 4,000 points, but has finally managed to scale the summit.

Sabalenka assured herself of a place at the WTA Finals in September this year, a month after defending champion Iga Swiatek did the same. Sabalenka will be competing at the season-ending championship for the fourth successive year. She was the runner-up in 2022 and a semi-finalist last year. This time, Sabalenka could take the title if she keeps up her form on the hard courts.

The Belarusian and current World No. 1 in the WTA rankings has a narrow lead over Iga Swiatek, who is behind by a mere 41 points in second position. For Swiatek, losing the No.1 ranking before the WTA Finals could affect her confidence on the court. It has been an amazing comeback by Sabalenka, as she amassed 4,000 points in the last nine weeks.

The 2024 season is Sabalenka’s most successful since making her main draw debut in 2017. Let us now break down the Belorussian’s title wins this season.

Australian Open

Aryna Sabalenka produced a tennis masterclass to defend her 2023 Australian Open title. She halted Qinwen Zheng’s bid to win the title with a 6-3, 6-2 win in just 76 minutes. In a dominant display through the fortnight, Sabalenka became the first player since Serena Williams in 2007 to claim the title without dropping serve. 

She is also the first player in 11 years to post back-to-back wins since compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2013. Sabalenka also took on the mantle as the first player since Azarenka that year to successfully defend an Australian Open crown, ending a four-year run with a different champion each time.

Cincinnati Open

Like the Australian Open win in January, Sabalenka took home the Cincinnati Open title without dropping a set. She defeated Swiatek and Jessica Pegula back-to-back for her second crown of the season. By defeating Swiatek in the last four, Sabalenka made up for the loss at the Madrid Open, when she was on match point against the Pole.

Cincinnati was Sabalenka’s sixth WTA 1000 title, making her the third among active players with more than five WTA 1000 titles. Swiatek and Azarenka have won 10 each.

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Sabalenka ended Pegula’s nine-match win streak, besides overtaking Coco Gauff to mark her return to No. 2 on the WTA rankings.

US Open

The 2024 US Open final saw Aryna Sabalenka lift the title for the first time, making it a sweet win. She came close in 2023 but ultimately lost to Coco Gauff in the final, after two semi-final appearances in the previous years. 

Sabalenka battled past American Jessica Pegula in 1 hour and 53 minutes under a closed Arthur Ashe Stadium roof for her third Grand Slam singles title. She held off Pegula 7-5, 7-5, handing the World No. 6 her second straight sets defeat in a final in as many weeks. Sabalenka had defeated Pegula a week before in Cincinnati before arriving in New York.

Wuhan Open

Sabalenka made her way to the Wuhan Open, eyeing a historic three-peat. At the 10th and final WTA 1000 tournament of the season, she added to her 2018 and 2019 titles to make it a hat-trick at the venue. 

She ended home favourite Qinwen Zheng’s title bid in front of 13, 000 spectators at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center. Sabalenka took home the title with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win to preserve her 4-0 head-to-head win streak against the World No. 7 from China in a rematch of their Australian Open final.

After Zheng took a set off Sabalenka for the first time, the Belarusian responded by winning the decider to hand Zheng her second defeat of the season in two hours and 40 minutes.  

Sabalenka sealed the trifecta of wins at Wuhan after unleashing a barrage of 42 winners to down a hapless Magdalena Frech in the last eight. She then fought back after losing the first set to Gauff in the semi-finals to prevail in three sets, after the American hit a season-high 21 double faults in the match.

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