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in the next half month, wuhan will once again attract attention from around the world because of tennis - the 2024 wuhan tennis open, which starts on october 5, will be the last 1,000-point top-level wta event of the year. the players' performance in wuhan also determines whether they can qualify for the wta year-end finals. therefore, a super luxurious lineup including the world's number one swiatek appears on the entry list.

main race – led by the world’s number one

zheng qinwen. (file photo) source: xinhua news agency

a few days ago, the wuhan tennis open organizing committee announced the 2024 wuhan open wta1000 main draw list, and all the top 20 players in the world are listed. in this list, the world's number one swiatek is undoubtedly the favorite to win the championship. she had previously withdrawn from the china open due to personal reasons, but she stated through her agent that she would "see you there or not" in wuhan. this appointment in jiangcheng will also be the first encounter between the "queen of clay" and jiangcheng wuhan.

following swiatek is sabalenka, an old friend of wuhan open and currently ranked second in the world. she is the first women's singles champion to successfully defend her title at the wuhan open. she won consecutive championships in 2018 and 2019, and this year she won the australian open and us open titles. in a sense, the wuhan open is an important stop in sabalenka's career growth, and she herself regards wuhan as a "blessed place."

in addition, pegula is ranked third in the world and runner-up at this year's us open. rybakina, who participated in the wuhan open as a wild card in 2019 and reached the quarterfinals and is now ranked fourth, is the runner-up at this year's french open and wimbledon and is now fifth in the world. paolini, as well as gauff, navarro, krejitskova and other masters are on the list.

zheng qinwen, the 2024 australian open runner-up and paris olympic women's singles champion who has attracted much attention from chinese fans, will also return to han to compete in the wuhan open this time. in 2019, zheng qinwen participated in the wuhan open as a qualifier. now she has grown into a world star in women's tennis and will participate as a seed player this time.

according to reports, the total prize money for the 2024 wuhan open will exceed us$3.22 million. this year's wuhan tennis open singles main draw has a total of 56 draws, including 43 direct finalists, 1 special exemption, 4 wild cards and 8 qualifying winners. the top eight seed players in the world will be ranked first round bye.

qualifying round – squeeze in four grand slam winners

just look at the qualifying list to see how fierce the competition is at the 2024 wuhan tennis open. because there are too many players in the main draw, the four grand slam champions - naomi osaka, andreescu, stephens and raducanu - also had to start from the qualifying rounds. their strong participation will also make this qualifying round the level of competition and enjoyment have been pushed to new heights.

naomi osaka, who has two australian open titles and two us open titles, is impeccably competitive on hard courts. naomi osaka, who is now a mother, is gradually returning to her form after returning to the court. in the first round of the 2024 us open, she defeated ostapenko, ranked tenth in the world.

there are also three us open champions in this qualifying round - 2021 champion raducanu, 2019 champion andreescu and 2017 champion stephens. in addition, the qualifying list also includes czech player mukhova, who just reached the semi-finals of the us open. she won the women's singles runner-up at the french open last year.

as for chinese players, wang xiyu and wang yafan will also compete in the qualifying rounds. this year’s wuhan open qualifying tournament will be held from october 5th to 6th.

doubles - grand slam champion vs olympic gold medal combination

on september 26, the women's doubles roster of the 2024 wuhan tennis open was announced: grand slam women's doubles champions dabrowski/rutliffe will lead the competition, and china's golden flower zhang shuai will join forces with former women's doubles "queen of the ball" mertens. , in addition, jiangcheng audiences can also catch a glimpse of errani/paolini, the women’s doubles gold medalists at this year’s paris olympics.

the top seeds of the women's doubles at the wuhan open are dabrowski/rutliffe of canada and new zealand. the two won the 2023 us open women's doubles crown together. rutliffe also reached the top of the women's doubles world for the first time this year. first. currently, this pair ranks third in the women's doubles rankings heading towards the year-end finals. they will launch an attack on qualifying for the finals at this year's wuhan open.

the italian pair errani/paolini, who won the women's doubles gold medal at the 2024 paris olympics, will also appear in jiangcheng. known as the "little steel cannon", paolini has been in excellent competitive form this season. she has reached the women's singles finals of the french open and wimbledon back-to-back, and also reached the women's doubles finals of the french open. she is one of the players with the strongest momentum this year.

china golden flower zhang shuai will compete in the wuhan open women's doubles for the fourth time. her previous best result was reaching the top 16 of the wuhan open women's doubles in 2019. this time he appeared in jiangcheng again. zhang shuai's partner is the former world number one in women's doubles and belgian female player mertens. mertens has won 4 women's doubles grand slam titles. in wuhan, she had left wonderful memories.

(changjiang daily reporter zhang lin, correspondent zhang li and hu jingjing)

(source: changjiang daily)

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