Shnaider lauds team for consistency after earning fourth career top 10 win in Wuhan
WUHAN -- The past two years at the Dongfeng • Voyah Wuhan Open, Diana Shnaider's stay was short.
She hadn't won one match in Wuhan -- both singles and doubles -- until this year's edition. With a 7-5, 6-3 win Karolina Muchova, Shnaider is through to the quarterfinals. She picked up her fourth top 10 win of her career -- three this season -- and she's into her fourth career WTA 1000 quarterfinal. All of her wins at the tournament thus far have come in straight sets.
It's been a strong year for the World No. 13, who's amassed a 32-20 record on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz in 2026. Her season has been highlighted by a semifinal runs at Roland Garros, Adelaide and Washington, and quarterfinal finishes in Toronto and Charleston, and she's maintaining the consistency into the Asian Swing.
"It wasn't a lot of time to adjust to the new courts, new balls," Shnaider said on coming to Wuhan after reaching Beijing doubles semifinals. "It was a little bit hard just mentally that you had just one day where you can forget about tennis. And then all over again, but this is what happens when you go a little bit deeper in a tournament.
"I'm very happy that I'm in the quarters because when I just came here, I was dead mentally, and definitely wasn't expecting to do great."
Shnaider's been consistent over the last three seasons on tour, hovering in and out of the top 20. She achieved her career-high rank of No. 11 in May 2025, and she sits at No. 13 right now. Two years ago at Wuhan, she entered as No. 16 on tour.
As her consistency has strengthened, Shnaider has also invested more into her team.
Her lead coach, Sascha Bajin, has been with her since August 2025, and now she travels more frequently with fitness coaches and rotating hitting partners. The concept of building a team has been a learning curve for Shnaider, but she's figured out the balance on what tournaments to bring a whole team vs. a reduced operation. She also has fitness coaches in select areas geographically depending where she is on tour, such as the United States.
"It takes a little bit more time to create the team around you. You need to find the right people and obviously sometime it is hard," Shnaider said. "I'm just trying to figure out what type of mindset I want to have on tournaments, off the tournaments, because everyone wants to have a success.
"Everyone wants to help you, but sometimes you understand and maybe this one is a little bit too much, maybe this one is a little bit less. So I'm just trying to find myself what I want to have on tournaments, between tournaments, before matches to what's the most comfortable for me."
The first part of the 2025 season saw fluctuation in Shnaider's team, but by bringjing Bajin on board -- and his plethora of experience -- the consistency in her team itself has fueled the strong year.
From both tactical and mental perspectives, Shnaider lauded the partnership.
"We keep working on the court and a lot of different stuff, and I feel there is still a lot of things that we can do more and work more because work never stops. We also talk a lot about the tactics, the easier shot, the short placement and everything.
"We talk the mental side of it, like today. 'It's okay, if it's nine times deuce, but you got to go. If it's nine, it's nine. If it's five, it's five. If it's 15, 15. You're not going to let your emotions in front of you [or] get tired."
Shnaider could reach her fourth semifinal of the year, and faces the winner of Jelena Ostapenko and Leylah Fernandez in Friday's quarterfinals.
