THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

October 1, 2018

The final of the Wuhan Open saw two unseeded players battle for the trophy.  The last seed standing, number sixteen Ash Barty of Australia, was defeated 7-6, 6-4 in the sem-final by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.  In the second semi-final, local favourite Wang Qiang was forced to retire while down 6-2, 2-1 to Anett Kontaveit of Belarus.

In the final, Sabalenka got the early break and won the first set 6-3.  The Belarussian won the second set 6-3 to win her second title on the WTA tour.  Sabalenka defeated Carla Suarez Navaro of Spain in the final of the Connecticut Open in August.

The top players will compete in the China Open, beginning today.  Simona Halep is the top seed, but has withdrawn due to injury after losing the first set of her opening match against Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.  Ash Barty also withdrew before the start of the tournament, while Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina lost their opening round matches.  Third seed Caroline Garcia of France is the defending champion.

In the men’s game, two tournaments were completed in China during the week.  At the Chengdu Open, much maligned Australian Bernard Tomic won his first title in two years, defeating the top seed, Fabio Fognini of Italy in three sets in the final.

The Shenzhen Open was won by Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka, who defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France in three sets in the final.  Australian seventh seed, Alex De Minaur was beaten by Herbert in the semi-finals; while Andy Murray continued his comeback from injury, by making it to the quarter finals, where he fell to fifth seed, Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

The men also move on to the China Open.  Juan Martin del Potro is the top seed, ahead of Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Fabio Fognini.  No Australians are playing in the men’s tournament, while Daria Gavrilova is the sole Australian entrant in the women’s draw.

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