Portugal Colonial - Ruthless Sabalenka races into Wuhan quarters after Djokovic boost

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 number 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 2:30 pm from 11:00 am.

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 number one Djokovic, who is a resident there.

"I won a lot of points against him for the record," Sabalenka told reporters.

"I hope he's going to confirm that. We went for dinner. We practised a couple times.

"I hope I was a great hitting partner. So far, he's winning in Shanghai," she added.

"So I guess I was, it was a good one. I really hope he's going to go all the way.”

Sabalenka did not face a break point against Samsonova and was impressive on her second serve, dropping just three points from 16.

The Belarusian top seed wrapped up the win in 75 minutes and awaits Elena Rybakina or Linda Noskova in the final eight.

Earlier, Jessica Pegula was made to battle through three sets for the second day running as she also reached the quarter-finals.

The American sixth seed, who had spent almost three hours on court against Hailey Baptiste on Wednesday, needed more than two hours a day later to move past Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

P.Cavaco--PC