Venus said after the match that it was a good experience for her as she was playing Julia for the first time in her career and if she had known about the record before, it would have been on her mind throughout the match.
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Two-time major-winner Azarenka stopped play when she was one set and one game down to Brit Konta, saying she picked up a thigh injury in training on Tuesday morning.
Angelique Kerber of Germany hits a return against Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic during their match at the Wuhan Open on Tuesday.
Kvitova fell to this year s shock finalist at the US Open, Roberta Vinci of Italy, in two sets.
Muguruza is in the running to make it to the top-eight Women s Tennis Association Finals in Singapore at the end of this month, with the field looking increasingly open after the Wuhan upsets.
Venus, 35 and winning despite having to fight a chronic disease, said she had no idea she had that number of victories until after her 6-4, 6-3 Wuhan win. “First set, I lost”.
Next up for Halep is a first career meeting with Britain’s Konta, the Sydney-born world No. 66 who reached the US Open last 16 as a qualifier.
As defending champion Petra Kvitova joined the exodus of top seeds, world number two Halep appeared to have the measure of 66th-ranked Konta when she led 5-1 in the third. “I found my game again”, said Muguruza. How many places will depend on whether she can advance beyond her quarter-final, where she will take on No8 seed Karolina Pliskova, who took almost two hours to beat Elena Svitolina.
The Czech player conceded only 10 points on his serve.
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“I’m very, very happy and very, very exhausted right now”, said Slovak Schmiedlova who will next meet Kristina Mladenovic – a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 victor over 14th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States.
