WTA Wuhan, Tashkent; ATP Chengdu, Zhuhai
Asian Swing in full swing. Ladies come swinging into the last P5 of the season, gents don't bother much (there's a swinging joke to be made here but yeah...) - just two ATP 250. Ladies first.
Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open
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| Wuhan old library |
This is the last Premier 5 of the season. One of the last chances to get a big chunk of points (900) for the year end rankings. This and Beijing are the tournaments that really force players into this Asian Swing. Still, this one is not mandatory so some of the players, tired, injured, or both opt out of it. This year we're not gonna see Osaka, Andreescu, Serena, Konta, Kontaveit, Vondrousova, Goerges, Sakkari, Zheng. Sixteen seeds, top 8 have byes. They already started playing the MD matches so let's see the draw (chalk r16):
1st quarter:
Barty[1] v Kenin[15]
Keys[12] v Bencic[7]
Also here Kasatkina v Garcia, Mertens v Siniakova, Martic v Mladenovic. I mean whoa, these are all 1st round matches!
2nd quarter:
Halep[4] v Vekic[16]
Sabalenka[9] v Bertens[6]
Collins already beat Venus (poo), Azarenka, Sasnovich are in this section with a bunch of WCs and Qs.
3rd quarter:
Wang(Q.)[8] v Kerber[11]
Wozniacki[13] v Svitolina[3]
Two fresh Czechs battle Bouzkova v Muchova, Kuznetsova v Putintseva, Muguruza v Peng. Again, these are all 1st round.
4th quarter:
Kvitova[5] v Stephens[10]
Sevastova[14] v Pliskova[2]
Anisimova plays her 1st match after her father's death and it's v Stosur, Tomljanovic v Yastremska, also here Wang(Y.) and Zhang.
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| And the winner is Aryna Sabalenka (again!) |
Tashkent Open
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| Yep, this is a subway station. How cool is that? |
Well, they all want into Wuhan, but what can you do if your ranking is not that great? Easy! Go to Uzbekistan and play a WTA International (280 points). In Tashkent. All Romanians (minus Halep) are here (I'm gonna say this is because they all like Tashkent, not because they all pretty much sucked all year.). Eight seeds, no byes in a draw of 32. Seeds are Kuzmova, Gasparyan, AVU, Ostapenko, Pliskova the Lesser, Maria (not that one), Babos, Cirstea. Just so you can gauge the field here, 1st seed is #53, the 8th seed is #93. Last direct entry is #128. So yeah, Romanians... Niculescu, Begu are in MD and Bogdan and Cristian are now losing in qualies it seems. Also here are Krunic, Flipkens, Kalinskaya.
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| And the winner is Alison Van Uytvanck, runner-up Sorana Cîrstea (read the plates if you're unsure who's who!) |
Onto the men.
Chengdu Open
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| Sichuan cuisine. No clue what is in this picture, but I bet it's all fabulous. |
So it's an ATP 250. 28 draw, top 4 seeds (Isner, FAA, Paire, Dimitrov) have byes the other 4 (Lajovic, Fritz, Edmund, The Shap) don't. Some other notable names: PCB, Albot, Verdasco, Pospisil, Evans.
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| Sorry, Pablo Carreno Busta wins a crystal vase (Look at him! He's not impressed either, isn't he?). |
Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships
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| Zhuhai Opera House - I mean this was the mandatory picture, right? |
Another ATP 250. Same exact setup as Chengdu: byes for The Tsi, RBA, Monfils, Coric; no byes for Pouille, Kyrgios, De Minaur, ARV. And Cecchinato, Norrie, Ruud, Sir Scot Guy(!), Johnson are all here too.
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| The coolest trophy for Alex De Minaur |
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