WTA Elena Rybakina WTA Wuhan 2026

Rybakina joins the plague of withdrawals in Wuhan

Pedro de Pablos - 7 Oct 2026
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Rybakina joins the plague of withdrawals in Wuhan. Source: Getty Images.

The WTA Wuhan has suffered a very significant last-minute withdrawal, and it is none other than Elena Rybakina, the world number 1. The Kazakh player has joined a long list of important players who have decided to skip the tournament, which surely will not sit well with the directors, who have seen how, in recent days, the draw has been greatly affected.

So far, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys, Emma Navarro, Anastasia Potapova, Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova, and Paula Badosa have already announced that they will not play in Wuhan, being replaced by players like Tagger, Kalinina, Sherif, Korpatsch, Zheng, Samsonova, Tjen, Zhang, Boulter, or Birrell. This opens up the draw for the rest of the favorites, like Aryna Sabalenka, who does plan to play and has automatically become the top favorite to lift the title.

Sabalenka has a chance to cut points from Rybakina in pursuit of the number 1

Rybakina already faced an injury during the North American tour that forced her to withdraw against Iga Swiatek in the WTA Cincinnati. Despite arriving somewhat injured at the US Open, Elena managed to lift her second Grand Slam of the season and become number 1 for the first time in her career. However, in Wuhan, she will lose the points she was defending for reaching the quarterfinals, where she lost precisely to Sabalenka. The good news for her is that Aryna would need to improve on last year's semifinals to cut points from the Kazakh player.

As of today, Rybakina has 9,696 points in the ranking, while Sabalenka has 7,485. Therefore, it is quite difficult for Elena to lose her number 1 position before the year ends, despite also defending the title at the WTA Finals. What is clear is that her absence is the most critical setback for the Wuhan tournament, which has suffered a talent drain that will surely impact its revenue this year.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Rybakina se une a la plaga de bajas en Wuhan