Sabalenka to meet Riske at Shenzhen Open final

Beijing - Top seed Aryna Sabalenka cruised past China's Wang Yafan on Saturday to reach the final of the Shenzhen Open.

Sabalenka beat Wang 6-2, 6-1 after the Belarusian's ultra-aggressive tennis earned her an early break.

Wang had to call for a medical timeout early in the second set to attend to her left thigh, and struggled during the game that lasted just over an hour.

"Of course I'm so happy with this performance. I would like to say it was not an easy match, because she (Wang) was always trying to get back into the game, even when she was down 0-5," Sabalenka said after her win.

The world No 13 will meet American Alison Riske in the final.

Riske - a two time previous finalist - beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 1-0 in the other semi-final and Zvonareva retired early in the second set.

Sabalenka - who capped off a breakthrough season last year with titles at Wuhan and New Haven - made it to the semi-finals after former world number one Maria Sharapova abandoned her quarter-final tie on Friday after struggling with a thigh injury.