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Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, August 16 (Reporter Wang Zijiang) The Hong Kong Tennis Association of China announced on the 16th that this year's Hong Kong Open will add a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) 125-level competition. In this way, together with the original WTA250 and the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP) 250, the new Hong Kong tennis series will increase to three tours.

On August 2, the Chinese pair Zhang Zhizhen/Wang Xinyu (left) competed in the mixed doubles final of the Paris Olympics. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Jing

The Hong Kong Tennis Association of China revealed at a press conference held on the same day that Chinese player Wang Xinyu, who had just won the mixed doubles runner-up at the Paris Olympics, and the 2021 US Open women's singles champion, British player Raducan, will participate in this year's WTA250 tournament.

All three tournaments will be held at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium in downtown Hong Kong. The WTA125 tournament will be held from September 30 to October 6. This brand-new event aims to cultivate future stars. Chinese players Wang Qiang and Zhang Shuai have confirmed their participation. As a traditional event, the WTA250 tournament will be held from October 26 to November 3. In addition to Wang Xinyu and Raducanu, defending champion Fernandez from Canada, last year's Guangzhou Open champion Wang Xiyu and Yuan Yue have also confirmed their participation. The ATP250 tournament, which was held for the first time last year, will be held from December 29 to January 5, 2025. Many players will use this event to warm up for the Australian Open. Russian player Rublev will return to Hong Kong to defend his title.

Rublev celebrates his victory after the men's singles final at the Hong Kong Open on January 7. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Binghui

Cheng Ming-che, president of the Hong Kong Tennis Association of China, said at the press conference that Hong Kong is the only city in Asia, besides Beijing and Tokyo, that can host both ATP and WTA events. He expects that the expansion of the event will consolidate Hong Kong's position as a world-renowned sports city, attract fans from all over the world to watch the games, and further promote the development of the event economy. At the same time, the WTA 125-level competition added this year will provide competition opportunities for young players around the world, and he expects them to use this competition to become rising stars.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

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