The first two days of action at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open, the last WTA 1000 event being held in China, saw the 1st-round of matches completed, paving the way for the top 8 seeds, who received byes, to enter the tournament in round 2 on Wednesday.
British No 1 Katie Boulter was knocked out by qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, the World No 96 from Ukraine, 6-2 7-5, in an hour and 52 minutes.
Boulter was on the back foot from the get-go, and she trailed 0-3 in a whirlwind opening set that saw 6 breaks of serve. The Brit failed to hold serve in the set, and won just 47% of points behind her first delivery, as Tsurenko went on to take the lead after 43 minutes.
While Boulter appeared more settled in the second, it was the Ukrainian who dealt the decisive break late in the set before sealing the win on her 2nd match point.
Tsurenko, who takes her overall record against Boulter to 4-1, moves on to meet Poland’s Magda Linette, who pulled off a 6-2 6-2 upset of No 11 seed Liudmila Samsonova.
Meanwhile, Dart and her American partner Ashlyn Krueger withdrew late on Tuesday, and were replaced in the draw by alternates Armenian Elina Avenesyan & Olivia Gadecki from Australia, who will play Belgium’s Elise Mertens & Zhang Shuai from China, seeded 5, on Wednesday.
Images:
In the first main-draw match played in Wuhan since 2019, Beatriz Haddad Maia, the No 9 seed from Brazil, held off former US Open finalist Madison Keys form the USA, 7-6(7) 6-2, after a 2 hour 8 minute battle.
This is the second event in a row that the two Top 25 players have faced off, and, this time around, Haddad Maia avenged her Beijing loss to Keys.
The Brazilian moves on to meet Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, who edged past Czech Marie Bouzkova, 6-4 7-6(4), after 2 hours 23 minutes, coming from 0-2 down in the first set and saving a set point trailing 5-4 in the second.
France’s lucky loser Clara Burel hung tough in her first set, but then came up against the true grit of Yuan Yue, and it was the Chinese who eventually prevailed, 1-6 6-4 6-2, to set up a contest with 3rd-seeded Jasmine Paolini from Italy next.
Images:
Russia’s Anastasia Potapova rebounded after losing the first set from 5-3 up against wild-card Katie Volynets, triumphing after 2 hours and 45 minutes in 3 sets, 5-7 6-3 7-5, and she now will take on another American, Jessica Pegula, the No 2 seed, in the 2nd-round.
Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist from Canada, rebounded after missing 3 set points in the first set to defeat the 12-seeded Russian, Diana Shnaider, 6-7(7) 6-3 6-3.
Images:
No 15 seed Donna Vekic from Croatia overcame Belgian Elise Mertens, 3-6 6-1 6-3, and advances to meet Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who beat China’s Zhang Shuai, 6-4 6-4, on Tuesday.
Another seed, Anna Kalinskaya, the No 10 seed from Russia, charged past Hungarian qualifier, Anna Bondar, 6-1 6-3, just 74 minutes.
Images:
Poland’s Magdalena Frech posted a 6-0 6-4 win over Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama in her opening round after also hitting a new career-high ranking of No 27 on Monday.
Romanian wild-card Jaqueline Cristian battled past Colombian qualifier Camila Osorio, 4-6 6-2 6-3, converting 9 of 15 break points in her come-back win, and lining up an encounter with Chinese 5th seed Zheng Qinwen.
Images:
Czech Katerina Siniakova dropped just 4 games against wild-card Alexandra Eala from the Philippines, 6-3 6-1, and she now meets top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in round 2.
America’s Amanda Anisimova held off a come-back attempt from 5-1 to 5-4 in the second set by qualifier Cristina Bucsa from Spain, eventually sealing her 5th match point to win through, 6-2 6-4.
Images:
Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova earlier saved 4 match points in the second-set tiebreak, then came from 0-2 down in the third set to defeat American Ashlyn Krueger, 1-6 7-6(5) 7-5, after 2 hours and 34 minutes.
Another American, Hailey Baptiste, a qualifier, found her way past France’s Diane Perry, 6-4 7-5, and lines up against Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, the Czech 7th seed, in the 2nd-round.
Images:
Mirra Andreeva, who makes her Top 20 debut this week at No 19, is seeded 16 in Wuhan, and won her opener, 7-6(6) 6-3, against wild-card Wang Xiyu on Tuesday, improving her record to 2-0 overall against the Chinese.
The 17-year old Russian now will meet her older sister, 20-year old Erika Andreeva, a qualifier who beat Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, 7-5 6-4, on Monday.
Images:
Late in the day, Spain’s Paula Badosa, the 14th seed withdrew due to illness and was replaced by Italian lucky loser, Lucia Bronzetti, to play Australia’s Alja Tomljanovic, the 125 champion in Hong Kong on Sunday in the night match.
Bronzetti came from 3-5 down in the second set to defeat the Aussie, 6-1 7-6(2), and will play China’s Wang Xinyu, who was a 6-4 6-0 winner over America’s Caroline Dolehide on Monday.
Images:
