WUHAN OPEN TENNIS – WTA – GOLDEN GIRL PUIG READY TO SHINE & QUALIFIERS INCLUDE BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS & HEATHER WATSON

Written by: Staff on 24th September 2016

WUHAN OPEN TENNIS - WTA - GOLDEN GIRL PUIG READY TO SHINE & QUALIFIERS INCLUDE BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS & HEATHER WATSON

epa05550053 Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medal winner, returns a ball to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic during their women's singles second round match at the Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan, 21 September 2016. Puig later won the match. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON |

Golden girl Puig ready to shine in Wuhan

Rio Olympic Gold medallist Monica Puig will be one of a gallery of tennis stars in action on Sunday as the main draw gets underway at the 2016 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.

Puig takes on former US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci in the first round of the  US$2,589,000 WTA Premier 5 event in central China. Grand Slam finalists Sabine Lisicki and Lucie Safarova are also in action, along with Swiss star Belinda Bencic and two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Newly-crowned World No.1 Angelique Kerber, defending champion Venus Williams, former Wimbledon finalists Garbine Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova are amongst the big names preparing to start their campaigns in Wuhan. The top eight seeds all have byes into the second round.

Great Britain’s Heather Watson had to win two matches in one day on Saturday to join the illustrious names in the 56-player main draw. She will take on Madison Brengle (USA) in the first round after wins over Chang Lui (CHN) and Samantha Crawford (USA) in the qualifying competition on Saturday.

“I’m pleased that I got through because I don’t feel that I’m playing my best and to win when you’re not playing well is great for the confidence,” said Watson.

“I played a lot better in my second match and my first match so It was probably good for me to have a tougher first match; that helped me.”

Heather Watson of Great Britain hits a return to Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands on the second day of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 30 August 2016. The US Open runs through September 11. EPA/PETER FOLEY

2016 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN – WUHAN, CHN

$2,589,000

25 SEPTEMBER-01 OCTOBER 2016

RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 24, 2016

Women’s Qualifying Singles – Second Round

Qualifying – [1] D. Kasatkina (RUS) d [12] P. Parmentier (FRA) 62 63

Qualifying – [15] L. Chirico (USA) d [2] C. Mchale (USA) 63 76(3)

Qualifying – [3] K. Siniakova (CZE) d [16] Y. Duan (CHN) 63 63

Qualifying – [6] A. Cornet (FRA) d [10] K. Bondarenko (UKR) 62 61

Qualifying – E. Kulichkova (RUS) d [7] A. Riske (USA) 67(2) 63 64

Qualifying – [8] J. Goerges (GER) d [11] Q. Wang (CHN) 75 76(2)

Qualifying – [14] H. Watson (GBR) d S. Crawford (USA) 76(3) 62

Qualifying – B. Mattek-Sands (USA) d G. Min (USA) 62 64

First Round

Qualifying – G. Min (USA) d [4] A. Konjuh (CRO) 60 60

Qualifying – [8] J. Goerges (GER) d [Alt] A. Krunic (SRB) 62 62

Qualifying – [14] H. Watson (GBR) d [WC] C. Liu (CHN) 61 06 64

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon

11.15 am OPENING CEREMONY

Not Before 12:00 noon

[WC] S. Zheng (CHN) vs Y. Shvedova (KAZ)

Not Before 2:00 pm

V. Lepchenko (USA) vs L. Safarova (CZE)

B. Bencic (SUI) vs [9] S. Kuznetsova (RUS)

[WC] S. Lisicki (GER) vs E. Makarova (RUS)

COURT 1 start 12:00 noon

Y. Wickmayer (BEL) vs S. Rogers (USA)

[Q] K. Siniakova (CZE) vs T. Babos (HUN)

M. Puig (PUR) vs [13] R. Vinci (ITA)

[12] T. Bacsinszky (SUI) vs [Q] L. Chirico (USA)

COURT 2 start 12:00 noon

D. Kovinic (MNE) vs L. Siegemund (GER)

I. Begu (ROU) vs [Q] E. Kulichkova (RUS)

A. Klepac (SLO) / K. Srebotnik (SLO) vs A. Groenefeld (GER) / K. Peschke (CZE)

A. Krunic (SRB) / K. Siniakova (CZE) vs D. Gavrilova (AUS) / D. Kasatkina (RUS)

COURT 4 start 2:00 pm

[8] J. Goerges (GER) / K. Pliskova (CZE) vs [WC] C. Liu (CHN) / K. Zhang (CHN)

A. Rosolska (POL) / H. Watson (GBR) vs [WC] X. Han (CHN) / L. Zhu (CHN)

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: 2016 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Belinda Bencic, Garbine Muguruza, Heather Watson, Lucie Safarova, Monica Puig, Roberta Vinci, Sabine Lisicki, Sports, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wta, Wuhan Open Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

September 24, 2016 at 9:38 am

#WuhanOpen #Tennis – Golden Girl Puig Ready To Shine & Qualifiers Include @BMATTEK Sands & @HeatherWatson92… https://t.co/H1MwzNC1PQ