Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times with a hard-fought win over Zheng Qinwen in Sunday’s final.

The 26-year-old Belarusian was taken to three sets by China’s Zheng in a thrilling rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, in which she also claimed victory.

Sabalenka clinched her fourth women’s singles title of the year 6-3 5-7 6-3 and remains undefeated in Wuhan.

“That sounds crazy,” she said. “This place definitely feels like home.

“I am pretty sure we are going to play many more finals against one another.”

Top seed Sabalenka took the opening set in just 38 minutes, but Zheng mounted her comeback in a gripping second to force a decider.

There, Zheng found herself 3-0 down, and while she pulled two games back, lost her serve again as Sabalenka broke for a 5-2 lead.

The world number two failed to serve out the match as Zheng broke back to love, but finally wrapped up her 17th career title on her third championship point.

Reigning Olympic gold medallist Zheng, who became the first Chinese player to reach a WTA 1000 final, has now lost all four of her meetings against the three-time Grand Slam champion.

“Next time I will be better,” she said.

Sabalenka is now unbeaten in 17 consecutive matches in Wuhan, breaking Petra Kvitova’s record for the most at the tournament.

The win adds to a successful year in which she won both the Australian Open and US Open and appeared in seven singles finals.