Aryna Sabalenka avoided disqualification from the Wuhan Open after the world No. 1 threw her racket in anger, fortunately avoiding a ball boy, before eventually losing her semi-final to Jessica Pegula.<br /><br />The world No. 1 was bidding to win the tournament for the fourth consecutive time, after triumphs in 2018, 20,19, and 2024.<br /><br />Four years of the event were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br /><br />Sabalenka had been on course to reach the final after taking a 5-2 lead over Pegula in the third set.<br /><br />The American, the Buffalo Bills heiress, impressively stormed back by winning three straight games to level the match again.<br /><br />Pegula continued her surge by coming out on top in a superb rally, with Sabalenka agonisingly putting a volley out to be broken for the second consecutive service game.<br /><br />A furious Sabalenka reacted to the error, which saw her fall 6-5 down, by throwing her racket angrily towards the players' benches.<br /><br />'The racket goes flying, and who has she hit there with the racket?' A Sky Sports commentator said, responding to the incident.<br /><br />'That is dangerous territory for Sabalenka, this semi-final has exploded into life in the last 10 to 15 minutes.<br /><br />'Sabalenka gets a warning for the racket abuse, but she is lucky it is not more.'<br /><br />Replays revealed that Sabalenka's racket had missed both a cameraman and an earby ball boy, as it collided with a bench and bounced back towards the court.<br /><br />Sabalenka, who immediately raised her hand in apology, would have likely been defaulted from the match had the racket struck either.<br /><br />The world No. 1 was handed a lifeline when Pegula double-faulted four times when trying to serve out the match, which allowed Sabalenka to break back to force a tie-break.<br /><br />Sabalenka had won an extraordinary 19 consecutive tiebreaks, but was undone on this occasion as Pegula clinched a dramatic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory.<br /><br />'For what I did in the tie-break, I'm just really proud of myself,' Pegula said post-match.<br /><br />'I've played so much tennis the last few weeks, so many three-set matches, but I feel like I'm very tough right now and I'm just using that as best as I can.'<br /><br />Pegula, who had lost her previous four matches against Sabalenka, will face Coco Gauff in the final of the WTA 1000 event.<br /><br />Gauff earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy's Jasmine Paolini in her semi-final match.
