The Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open has awarded its final two main draw Wild Cards to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Spain’s Maria-Teresa Torro Flor just days before the WTA Premier 5 event is due to begin in China.
Flipkens and Torro Flor join the star-studded main draw in one of the strongest fields ever assembled at a WTA event.
The inaugural event, being held from September 21 to 27 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan features all of the World’s Top 20 players, including Li Na, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Eugenie Bouchard, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki.
The tournament had already granted two-time Australian Open Champion, Victoria Azarenka a Wild Card entry alongside sixteen-year-old Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Gold medalist Xu Shilin and 24-year-old Wuhan born Zhang Kai-Lin.
Four Qualifying Wild Cards and up to four doubles Wild Cards are still to be announced.
Kirsten Flipkens was a 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist and has reached five WTA Tour quarter-finals this year. She is ranked 47 in the world and played through an earthquake in Tokyo earlier this week when she was beaten by Dominika Cibulkova.
Maria-Teresa Torro Flor is currently ranked 85 in the world. She won her first WTA Tour title in Marrakech earlier this year and reached the third round of the 2014 French Open.
Tickets for the 2014 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open are available via the official website www.4008702014.com, or dial 400-870-2014 to book tickets or purchase tickets through the main ticket box office at the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre and three branch box offices around the City.
For more information about the 2014 Wuhan Open, please visit www.wuhanopen.org
For media enquiries about the Wuhan Open, interview requests with organising team or to request
TIDBITS OF INFO :
About the Wuhan Open:
• Total prize-money purse of $2,440,070
• Runs 21-27 September 2014 (inclusive)
•Surface – Outdoor Hardcourt
• Premier-level events are the most prestigious events on the WTA Tour
About the WTA: The WTA is the global leader in women’s professional sport with more than 2,500 players representing 92 nations competing for a record $118 million in prize money at the WTA’s 54 events and four Grand Slams in 33 countries. Close to 5.4 million people attended women’s tennis events in 2013 with millions more watching on television and digital channels around the world. The 2014 WTA competitive season concludes with the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global October 17-26, 2014 and the Garanti Koza Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria, October 28-November 2, 2014. Further information on the WTA can be found at www.wtatennis.com; facebook.com/WTA and twitter.com/WTA
About the City of Wuhan:
• Wuhan is the most populous city in Central China with an overall population of 9.7 million and an urban population of 6.6 million (2012)
• Capital of Hubei province
• It is the birth place of two-time Grand Slam champion (and Wuhan Open competitor) Li Na
• It is built on the banks of the iconic River Yangtze
• It serves as a gateway – geographically and economically – between East and West China and is known as the “thoroughfare to nine provinces”
• It has been described by economists as “China’s economic and geographical centre”
• Wuhan is a key intersection in the railway network linking North China, Southwest China, Central-South China and East China and China’s other major cities
• Wuhan currently boasts over 10,000 commercial organizations, 105,000 commodity networks, four commercial listed enterprises as well as eight shopping centers, all of which feature on the list of China Top 100 Retail Shopping Centers
• It has a complete array of industries, including over 30,000 industrial enterprises of 33 industries such as iron and steel, automobile, equipment manufacturing, petroleum and petrochemical, optoelectronic communication, western and traditional Chinese medicine, biological engineering, textile, clothes, food and, increasingly, sport
• Wuhan is also a centre of learning. There are 52 regular institutions of higher learning in Wuhan with over 700,000 students, 736 scientific and design institutes, 10 state key laboratories, 59 Academicians of China Academy of Science and China Academy of Engineering as well as 450,000 technicians of various kinds.
Topics: 2014 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, China, Kirsten Flipkens, Tennis, Torro Flor, Wild Cards, Wta Event
@FlipperKF & TORRO FLOR GET #WILDCARDS FOR THE 2014 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN- http://t.co/I9iyqzfumU #tennis