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Jimu News reporter Hu Dikai and Zou Bin

Correspondents Hu Jingjing and Zhang Li

On the morning of August 20, the ticket opening ceremony for the 2024 Dongfeng Lantu Wuhan Open was held at Wuhan People's Park. Zheng Qinwen, a Hubei tennis player and the Paris Olympic Games women's singles champion, invited fans in the form of a video: "I look forward to performing well in this year's Wuhan Open. I hope everyone can come to the Wuhan Open to cheer for me. See you at the Wuhan Open!"

The 2024 Wuhan Open is a WTA1000-level event, one of the three highest-level tennis tournaments in China. There are only ten such events in the world, second only to the four Grand Slams, and the last stop of this year's WTA1000-level event. By then, about 120 top players from around the world will gather in Wuhan. Zheng Qinwen, the women's singles champion of the Paris Olympics, and Wang Xinyu, the runner-up in mixed doubles, will represent the host country to show the strength of Chinese tennis. Top players such as 2024 French Open champion Swiatek, 2024 Wimbledon champion Krejcikova, 2024 Australian Open champion, 2018 and 2019 Wuhan Open champion Sabalenka, and 2023 US Open champion Gauff will also come to Wuhan to compete.

According to the ticket opening ceremony, this year's Wuhan Open will be held at Wuhan Optics Valley International Tennis Center from October 5 to October 13, with the first two days being the qualifying round and the last seven days being the main round, with as many as 106 matches. This tournament has a variety of ticket types, including carnival tickets, enjoyment tickets and central court tickets. The price of the central court tickets ranges from 580 yuan to 1,880 yuan, and the price of the stand tickets ranges from 180 yuan to 680 yuan, divided into day and evening sessions, and the semi-finals and finals are not divided into day and evening sessions. There are also enjoyment tickets for Court No. 1 for 100 yuan and carnival tickets for the Olympic Sports Center (Courts 2/3/4/5) for 50 yuan.

In addition to the competition, this year's Wuhan Open also created highlight activities such as "Wuhan Open Carnival", "Let's Go! Play Tennis", and "Tennis Fever in the City". Everyone can personally participate in a variety of tennis activities, watch cultural performances, buy sports equipment, and even interact face-to-face with international stars!

It is understood that the first Wuhan Open was successfully held in 2014. At that time, it was a WTA Super Five event, with a singles champion score of 900 points. It was the China Open, second only to the WTA Crown Pearl Tournament in China. Starting from the 2021 season, the WTA redefined the event level, and both the Crown Pearl Tournament and the Super Five Tournament were classified as WTA1000 events. From 2014 to 2019, famous superstars including Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova, and Caroline Wozniacki all left their mark here. In 2014, Czech player Petra Kvitova won the Wuhan Open women's singles trophy for the first time; in 2015, the still-talented Venus Williams was crowned the champion; in 2016, Kvitova made a comeback and became the first player to win the Wuhan Open women's singles title twice; in 2017, France's Garcia won the championship; in 2018, the 20-year-old Belarusian player Sabalenka won the championship, which was also the highest-level championship she has won in her personal career; in 2019, Sabalenka, who had gotten rid of injuries, once again dominated the championship and became the first player to successfully defend the women's singles title.

In the past competitions of Wuhan Open, many Chinese golden flowers participated every year, and the best result in women's singles was held by Wang Qiang. In 2018, Wang Qiang easily defeated Puig, the Rio Olympic women's singles champion from Puerto Rico, in straight sets, creating the best record of her career and reaching the semi-finals of the Super Five Tournament for the first time. In the semi-finals, Wang Qiang was injured when facing Kontaveit, the runner-up of the event, and missed the final.

Zheng Qinwen's professional tennis career also began at the Wuhan Open. In 2019, the 17-year-old Zheng Qinwen was the only player from Wuhan, Hubei, and participated in the Wuhan Open qualifying tournament with a wild card. Although he lost in the challenge against the Russian star Kuznetsova, his good performance against the world's top professional players attracted attention.

This year, what kind of results will Zheng Qinwen achieve in the Wuhan Open as a main draw player for the first time? Is it possible for her to win the final and become the first Chinese golden flower to win the Wuhan Open? Let's wait and see.

(Source: Jimu News)

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