WUHAN, October 5, 2024 (Press Release)
World No.2 and reigning Australian Open and US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka arrived in Wuhan on Saturday, ready to start her campaign for an historic third consecutive trophy at the DONGFENG VOYAH · WUHAN OPEN 2024.
Winning the WTA 1000 tournament, where Main Draw play gets underway on Monday, would also allow Sabalenka to take a giant stride towards reclaiming the World No.1 ranking and ending the season in top spot. Sabalenka thrives on the courts of the Optics Valley International Tennis Center, having won back-to-back titles here in 2018 and 2019 (the last time the event was held). Only she and Petra Kvitova have won Wuhan twice; no player has yet won it three times.
A HUGE WUHAN WELCOME TO OUR 2019 CHAMPION ARYNA SABALENKA
DONGFENG VOYAH • WUHAN OPEN #wuhanopen #wta pic.twitter.com/8fYR4iOSjg
— DONGFENG VOYAH • WUHAN OPEN (@wuhanopentennis) October 5, 2024
Sabalenka will be top seed and receives a bye into round two along with the rest of the top eight seeds. Saturday’s draw ensured that she will face either 19-year-old rising star and wildcard Alex Eala or experienced Czech Ekaterina Siniakova in the second round.
Also in the top half of the draw lie potential title contenders Emma Navarro, seeded sixth, 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, and eighth seed Daria Kasatkina.
Wuhan’s strong line-up has ensured some high quality first round match-ups, notably Donna Vekic versus Elise Mertens, Yulia Putintseva against China’s Shuai Zhang and ninth seed Beatriz Haddad-Maia against former US Open finalist Madison Keys, all in the top half of the draw.
In the bottom half of the draw, first round highlights include twelfth seed Diana Snaider taking on former US Open runner-up Leylah Ferdandez, with the winner to play either twelfth seed Mirra Andreeva or local favourite Xiyu Wang.
Second seed and US Open finalist Jessica Pegula will await the winner of Anastasia Potapova versus wildcard Katie Volynets. This year’s Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejickova, seeded seventh; Wimbledon and Roland Garros runner-up Jasmine Paolini, seeded three, and Wuhan local and huge fan favourite Qinwen Zheng, seeded fifth, are the other seeds in Pegula’s half.
Saturday’s first round of qualifying in Wuhan saw Erika Andreeva (sister of Mirra), Ana Bogdan, Lucia Bronzetti, Anna Bondar, Cristina Bucsa, Olivia Gadecki, Clara Burel, Camila Osorio, Bernarda Pera, Suzan Lamens, Lesia Tsurenko, Yuljia Starodubtseva, Kamilla Rakhimova, Hailey Baptisite, Mai Hontama and Moyuka Uchijima all move through to Sunday’s final round.
