Aryna Sabalenka suffered another early exit at the China Open.
After defeating Renata Zarazua in her opening match, Sabalenka lost to Nikola Bartunkova, 4-6, 3-6, in the third round. The Belarusian had hoped to bounce back from her US Open final defeat to Elena Rybakina, but failed to do so.
Sabalenka still hasn’t won a WTA title since completing the Sunshine Double in March, enduring one of the worst spells of her stellar career. Serena Williams’ coach, Rennae Stubbs, has now declared what’s wrong with the world number two.
Rennae Stubbs says Aryna Sabalenka’s confidence level is ‘so low’ as she loses early in Beijing
“Sabalenka has lost her never-endings. They are gone. She has just lit them on fire, and she does not know how to bring them back anymore. Her confidence level is so low,” she said during the latest episode of the ‘Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast‘.
Which of these four WTA players will win the most Grand Slams next year?
Sabalenka, Gauff and Swiatek all went without a major title in 2026…
“She doesn’t show it in the same way as some people would. Like when Coco [Gauff] gets upset, you see her look [forlorn]. Sabalenka just gets angry and just looks at her player’s box, and says fix this for me. But it’s not possible.
“It is a different sort of anger and a different level of frustration that she is showing on the court. She has no game plan B. The difference with Coco is that she could be playing with 20 double faults and not making a forehand, and she will try to find a way and play ugly. She is the epitome of winning ugly. She will try to figure out a way to win; even if game A isn’t there, she will go to plan B, C, D, E, or F if she needs to, but Sabalenka does not have game plan B at all.”
When Sabalenka’s ‘Plan A’ works, she is, by far, the best player in the world. The 28-year-old was world number one for 107 weeks and won four Grand Slam titles. Even this year, Sabalenka won the Brisbane International and the Sunshine Double, and made the Australian Open final in January.
However, she has struggled since, and her ‘Plan A’ hasn’t worked as intended. Since the beginning of April, Sabalenka hasn’t won a WTA title and is 24-9 (72.7%) in tour-level matches.
Aryna Sabalenka’s record since winning the Sunshine Double (24-9)
| Tournament | Performance | Wins | Defeat |
| Madrid Open | Quarter-final | 3 (Peyton Stearns, Jaqueline Cristian, Naomi Osaka) | Hailey Baptiste |
| Italian Open | Third round | 1 (Barbora Krejcikova) | Sorana Cirstea |
| French Open | Quarter-final | 4 (Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Elsa Jacquemot, Daria Kasatkina, Naomi Osaka) | Diana Shnaider |
| Berlin Open | Semi-final | 2 (Ekaterina Alexandrova, Nikola Bartunkova) | Jessica Pegula |
| Wimbledon | Fourth round | 3 (Teodora Kostovic, McCartney Kessler, Jelena Ostapenko) | Naomi Osaka |
| Canadian Open | Fourth round | 2 (Moyuka Uchijima, Zhang Shuai) | Ekaterina Alexandrova |
| Cincinnati Open | Fourth round | 2 (Talia Gibson, Wang Xinyu) | Sara Bejlek |
| US Open | Final | 6 (Camila Osorio, Polina Iatcenko, Kamilla Rakhimova, Taylor Townsend, Linda Noskova, Jessica Pegula) | Elena Rybakina |
| China Open | Third round | 1 (Renata Zarazua) | Nikola Bartunkova |
She has fallen to second in the WTA rankings and is in desperate need of a good week or two before the end of the year. Only time will tell if she can turn things around.
Official WTA Rankings
- 1. Elena Rybakina – 9,901 points
- 2. Aryna Sabalenka – 7,810 points
- 3. Jessica Pegula – 7,265 points
- 4. Coco Gauff – 7,244 points
- 5. Mirra Andreeva – 5,841 points
What’s next for Aryna Sabalenka after China Open disappointment?
Sabalenka is scheduled to return at the Wuhan Open, where she will compete as the top seed following Rybakina’s withdrawal. The Belarusian is the most successful player in Wuhan Open history and will be determined to return to winning ways in central China.
Every Wuhan Open final
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
| 2014 | Petra Kvitova | Eugenie Bouchard | 6-3, 6-4 |
| 2015 | Venus Williams | Garbine Muguruza | 6-3, 3-0 (RET) |
| 2016 | Petra Kvitova (2) | Dominika Cibulkova | 6-1, 6-1 |
| 2017 | Caroline Garcia | Ashleigh Barty | 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 |
| 2018 | Aryna Sabalenka | Anett Kontaveit | 6-3, 6-3 |
| 2019 | Aryna Sabalenka (2) | Alison Riske | 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 |
| 2024 | Aryna Sabalenka (3) | Qinwen Zheng | 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 |
| 2025 | Coco Gauff | Jessica Pegula | 6-4, 7-5 |
12 months ago, Sabalenka lost to Jessica Pegula, 6-2, 4-6, 6-7, in the Wuhan Open semi-finals. Whether she can improve upon that result in 2026 and challenge for her fourth title remains to be seen. The 2026 Wuhan Open begins on October 12.
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