Sabalenka 1-2 Li in Wuhan: 108 points, 16 games apiece, and eliminated

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108-105. Sixteen games each. Aryna Sabalenka won more points, matched Ann Li game for game, and still walked out of Wuhan's Round of 32 on the wrong side of a 1-2 scoreline: 6-3, 4-6, 6-7.

The opening set ran entirely on Sabalenka's serve: 21 service points won to Li's 10, two breaks banked, two of three break points saved, and not one double fault while Li leaked three. The 6-3 lead looked routine. Set two flipped the geometry. The serve battle was even at 22-21, but Li won 18 receiver points to 12, broke twice and saved three of the four break points she faced to level the match at 6-4.

The decider is where the numbers turned strange. Sabalenka kept winning behind serve — 32 points to Li's 27 — and built a wall on break point, saving seven of eight while Li served five aces in the set alone, taking her match tally to eight against two. Four double faults from Sabalenka kept the door open, and the set went to the match's only tiebreak. Li took it, 7-6.

Li's win lived in the margins the games column hides: 47 return points to Sabalenka's 33 across the match, 18 to eight in the decider alone, and a first serve landing 61% of the time against 54%. She conjured 17 break points to Sabalenka's eight and converted four of each. Sabalenka's 13 saves at 76% kept her breathing for two and a half sets; they could not buy her the tiebreak.

Tennis usually pays whoever wins more points. On October 14 in Wuhan, it paid the player who took the ones that mattered.