WUHAN, September 19, 2019 (Press Release)

The qualifying draw for the 2019 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open will kick off on Friday 20th September at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The WTA Premier 5 $2,828,000 event boasts a qualifying draw featuring former Grand Slam champions and rising stars alike. 2004 US Open and 2009 Roland Garros Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will start her qualifying campaign against Chinese wildcard Qinwen Zheng whilst 17-year-old Whitney Osuigwe, the 2017 Junior Roland Garros Champion, will take on Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek.

Top seed Veronika Kudermetova who comes to Wuhan fresh off the back of a semi-final finish in Hiroshima last week starts her quest for a main draw spot against former world No.12 Yanina Wickmayer. Also in action will be Nanchang champion Rebecca Peterson, the No.2 seed, who will face Britain’s Heather Watson in her opening qualifying match.

The Wuhan Open is also pleased to announce that Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina will receive a wildcard into the Main Draw, which will start on Sunday 22nd September and end on Saturday 28th September. The Main Singles Draw will be made at 5.30pm on Friday 20th September.

Twenty-year-old Rybakina will join a stellar main draw field at the sixth edition of the Wuhan Open, which includes the world’s top 5 players, World No.1 and Roland Garros champion Ashleigh Barty, World No2. Karolina Pliskova, World No.3 Elina Svitolina, World No.4 and Australian Open Champion Naomi Osaka and World No.5 and Wimbledon Champion Simona Halep. Former Grand Slam champions Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Garbiñe Muguruza are also in the draw.

Rybakina, the young Kazakh, broke into the top 50 for the first time this week following her run to the final at the Jiangxi Open in Nanchang, China, the rise of 20 places taking her to a career-best ranking of 49.

Click here to link to the Qualifying Draw