Kerber and company ready to wow in Wuhan
Newly-crowned US Open champion Angelique Kerber will be in good company at this week’s Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open as she begins her first tournament since winning her second grand slam title and rising to No.1 in the world rankings.
The 28-year-old German will be top seed in Wuhan and is expected to face tough competition for the WTA Premier 5 title at what promises to be one of the most hotly-contested WTA Tour events of the season. Two time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who won Wuhan in 2014, its inaugural year, is in the same half of the draw is Kerber, along with fourth seed Simona Halep, Carla Suarez Navarro and rising US star Madison Keys.
Former Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza anchors the bottom half of the draw as second seed, with Agnieszka Radwanska, US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova and defending Wuhan Open champion Venus Williams all drawn in the same strong section.
Wuhan boasts a total prizemoney purse of US$2,589,000 and there are 900 ranking points on offer for the singles champion, so it could be a crucial week for those in contention for qualification for the eight-player field at the year-end BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore.
Keys and Great Britain’s Johanna Konta stand at ninth and tenth respectively in the Race to Singapore, with Suarez Navarro and Wimbledon quarter-finalist Dominika Cibulkova currently standing ahead of them.
2016 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN – WUHAN, CHN
$2,589,000 25 September-01 October 2016
Women’s Singles – Main draw
First Round
[1] A. Kerber (GER) – Bye
C. Vandeweghe (USA) vs. K. Mladenovic (FRA)
Qualifier vs. E. Svitolina (UKR)
J. Ostapenko (LAT) vs. [14] P. Kvitova (CZE)
[11] J. Konta (GBR) vs. A. Beck (GER)
[WC] S. Peng (CHN) vs. S. Zhang (CHN)
Y. Wickmayer (BEL) vs. S. Rogers (USA)
[7] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) – Bye
[4] S. Halep (ROU) – Bye
I. Begu (ROU) vs. Qualifier
[WC] S. Zheng (CHN) vs. Y. Shvedova (KAZ)
M. Puig (PUR) vs. [13] R. Vinci (ITA)
[12] T. Bacsinszky (SUI) vs. Qualifier
Qualifier vs. Qualifier
M. Lucic-Baroni (CRO) vs. C. Garcia (FRA)
[8] M. Keys (USA) – Bye
[6] V. Williams (USA) – Bye
Y. Putintseva (KAZ) vs. A. Sevastova (LAT)
Qualifier vs. M. Brengle (USA)
B. Bencic (SUI) vs. [9] S. Kuznetsova (RUS)
[16] S. Stosur (AUS) vs. C. Wozniacki (DEN)
Qualifier vs. T. Babos (HUN)
[WC] S. Lisicki (GER) vs. E. Makarova (RUS)
[3] A. Radwanska (POL) – Bye
[5] K. Pliskova (CZE) – Bye
V. Lepchenko (USA) vs. L. Safarova (CZE)
D. Kovinic (MNE) vs. L. Siegemund (GER)
Qualifier vs. [10] D. Cibulkova (SVK)
[15] A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) vs. M. Doi (JPN)
S. Errani (ITA) vs. B. Strycova (CZE)
J. Jankovic (SRB) vs. D. Gavrilova (AUS)
[2] G. Muguruza (ESP) – Bye
ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2016
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
Qualifying – [3] K. Siniakova (CZE) vs [16] Y. Duan (CHN)
Qualifying – [1] D. Kasatkina (RUS) vs [12] P. Parmentier (FRA)
Qualifying – [6] A. Cornet (FRA) vs [10] K. Bondarenko (UKR)
Not Before 3:30 pm
after suitable rest – Qualifying – [4] A. Konjuh (CRO) or G. Min (USA) vs B. Mattek-Sands (USA)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
Qualifying – [2] C. Mchale (USA) vs [15] L. Chirico (USA)
Not Before 12:00 noon
Qualifying – [4] A. Konjuh (CRO) vs G. Min (USA)
Qualifying – [7] A. Riske (USA) or [Alt] A. Rodionova (AUS) vs E. Kulichkova (RUS)
Not Before 3:30 pm
after suitable rest – Qualifying – [8] J. Goerges (GER) or [Alt] A. Krunic (SRB) vs [11] Q. Wang (CHN)
COURT 4 start 12:00 noon
Qualifying – [WC] C. Liu (CHN) vs [14] H. Watson (GBR)
Not Before 3:30 pm
after suitable rest – Qualifying – [Alt] A. Klepac (SLO) or S. Crawford (USA) vs [WC] C. Liu (CHN) or [14] H. Watson (GBR)
COURT 5 start 12:00 noon
Qualifying – [8] J. Goerges (GER) vs [Alt] A. Krunic (SRB)
RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
Women’s
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – [1] D. Kasatkina (RUS) d [Alt] L. Hradecka (CZE) 64 46 75
Qualifying – [2] C. Mchale (USA) d L. Zhu (CHN) 60 62
Qualifying – [3] K. Siniakova (CZE) d X. Han (CHN) 64 60
Qualifying – [6] A. Cornet (FRA) d J. Brady (USA) 75 76(4)
Qualifying – [7] A. Riske (USA) d [Alt] A. Rodionova (AUS) 60 16 64
Qualifying – [10] K. Bondarenko (UKR) d T. Maria (GER) 57 63 63
Qualifying – [11] Q. Wang (CHN) d [WC] Y. Wang (CHN) 63 75
Qualifying – [12] P. Parmentier (FRA) d T. Paszek (AUT) 61 31 Retired
Qualifying – E. Kulichkova (RUS) d [13] N. Gibbs (USA) 57 76(6) 62
Qualifying – [15] L. Chirico (USA) d M. Erakovic (NZL) 46 76(6) 63
Qualifying – [16] Y. Duan (CHN) d [Alt] C. Ferrando (ITA) 62 61
Qualifying – B. Mattek-Sands (USA) d [17] K. Zhang (CHN) 61 63
Qualifying – S. Crawford (USA) d [Alt] A. Klepac (SLO) 62 61
The Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open takes place between 23 September and 01 October 2016. For more information and to buy tickets visit: www.wuhanopen.org
The official websites for ticket sales www.wuhanopen.org and www.4008702014.com or call +86 400 870 2014
About the 2016 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open:
Optics Valley International Tennis Centre, Wuhan, China
WTA Premier 5 event
September 23 – 01 October 2016
Prize Money: US$ 2,589,000
56 Singles Main Draw, 32 Qualifying Draw, 28 Doubles Draw
Topics: Agniezska Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Carla Suarez Navarro, Karolina Pliskova, Ladies tennis, Madison Keys, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wta, Wuhan Open
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