WUHAN, September 22, 2018
The fifth annual Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open starts in earnest on Sunday with an opulent “Fifth Anniversary” ceremony on the tournament’s 15,000-seater center court and a feast of world class tennis.
Fittingly, the evening ceremony will be followed by two Grand Slam singles champions in back-to-back night matches. Samantha Stosur (2011 US Open) takes on local favourite Saisai Zheng in the opening evening session match before Sloane Stephens (2017 US Open) faces Anett Kontaveit in what promises to be an engaging contest.
Sunday’s day session also features plenty of pedigree match-ups, with Wimbledon semi-finalist Julia Goerges playing Marketa Vondrousova, Kristina Mladenovic taking on Katerina Siniakova and 15th-seed Elise Mertens against Aliaksandra Sasnovich among the highlights.
Sunday will also mark the debut of the groundbreaking FoxTenn Real Bounce electronic line-calling system in Wuhan, the first time that this state-of-the-art technology has ever featured at a tennis event of this stature. It has previously been used at WTA International event in Nanchang and ATP Tour events in Europe and is also approved by the International Tennis Federation but it has never been used at a WTA Premier or equivalent tournament before.
Saturday’s final round of qualifying saw a strong showing from Chinese players, with Yafan Wang and Xiyu Wang joining countrywomen Shuai Zhang, Qiang Wang and Saisai Zheng in the Main Draw. Other qualifiers were Olympic Gold Medallist Monica Puig, Katerina Siniakova, Rebecca Peterson, Viktorija Golubic, Sara Torribes Tormo and young American Sofia Kenin.
A full Main Draw with qualifiers is available below. The 2018 Wuhan Open Doubles Draw is also attached.
Victoria Azarenka was unfortunately forced to withdraw from the tournament. Azarenka retired from her match in Tokyo on Friday with illness. Her place in the Main Draw is taken by Marketa Vondrousova, a Lucky Loser from qualifying.
“It’s so disappointing not be to able to come to Wuhan but I just won’t recover and be ready in time to perform the way you need to at such a strong tournament. I’ve always enjoyed coming back to Wuhan and I look forward to seeing everyone there in 2019,” Azarenka said.
SATURDAY QUALIFYING RESULTS:
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 22, 2018
Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Qualifying – [2] K. Siniakova (CZE) d [10] M. Vondrousova (CZE) 61 61
Qualifying – [3] M. Puig (PUR) d [13] P. Hercog (SLO) 64 64
Qualifying – [5] R. Peterson (SWE) d Y. Duan (CHN) 46 63 63
Qualifying – [8] S. Kenin (USA) d [15] M. Niculescu (ROU) 76(5) 46 62
Qualifying – [12] Y. Wang (CHN) d L. Cabrera (AUS) 76(2) 76(3)
Qualifying – V. Golubic (SUI) d N. Gibbs (USA) 64 62
Qualifying – [WC] X. Wang (CHN) d V. King (USA) 61 00 Retired
Qualifying – S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) d [Alt] A. Zaja (GER) 63 64
