Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini and eighth seed Elena Rybakina advanced to the third round of the Dongfeng Voya Wuhan Open with contrasting victories on Wednesday.
Paolini advanced first and defeated local wild card player Yue Yuan 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, defeating a Chinese player for the fourth consecutive time. Rybakina followed closely and defeated Romania's Jacqueline Adina Christian 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the top 16.
Two players still vying for a spot in the WTA Finals
With three spots still available for the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh, both Rybakina (currently ranked eighth) and Paolini (ranked ninth) have improved their chances of advancing. According to the current ranking, Rybakina must lead Paolini by at least one round this week to maintain her advantage in the Riyadh competition.
Paolini is about to have the best season of his career
Wednesday's victory marked Paolini's 39th WTA main draw win of 2025, one step shy of her career-best 40 wins last season. She will be looking to equal that record and maintain a 1-0 lead in career meetings when she next faces Denmark's Clara Towson. With a month left in the season, the Italian looks set to set a personal best record for race wins in a single year.
Paolini has won more than 40 of the 1,000 WTA hard-court matches
The 29-year-old also became the fourth Italian player to win 40 or more WTA 1000 hard-court main draw matches since the event was launched in 2009, joining Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta and Sara Errani. The victory also made her the oldest player to win 24 or more main draw matches at a WTA 1000 event in a single season, following Serena Williams' 25 wins in 2014.
Rybakina aims for 10th quarter-final of the season
Rybakina has reached the quarterfinals nine times on the WTA Tour this year, trailing only Iga Swiatek (13th) and Aryna Sabalenka (12th). She is currently tied with Jessica Pegula and Ekaterina Alexandrova, who will play in the round of 16 in Wuhan.
Rybakina will face Nokova next
The former Wimbledon champion will next face Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, who reached the final in Beijing last week. Rybakina won the 2023 French Open (6-3, 6-3) and the 2024 Brisbane semi-finals (6-3, 6-2) to lead 2-0.