Monday marked the first day of main draw action and the last day of qualifying at the 2015 Tianjin Open. Now in its second edition, the WTA International event is the fifth and final stop on the Asian swing for most players, before the short indoor swing gets underway. Among the players in main draw action on day one were defending champion Alison Riske, Elina Svitolina, Kristina Mladenovic, Teliana Pereira and home favourite Zheng Saisai. Since it is now mathematically impossible for them to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore this season, all four of these players were making one last push in an attempt to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy event held in Zhuhai. In qualifying action, Lyudmyla Kichenok, Nadiia Kichenok, Olga Savchuk and Nicole Vaidisova all earned themselves a place in the main draw on Monday afternoon.
Mixed bag of results for seeds
Defending champion and 7th seed Alison Riske began her title defence with a straight-forward 6-0, 6-4 win over China’s Han Xinyun, while fifth seed Kristina Mladenovic needed just 46 minutes to dispatch home favourite Liu Fangzhou 6-1, 6-0. Elsewhere, sixth seed Teliana Pereira defeated WTA rising star Nao Hibino 7-5, 6-2 in a potentially sticky match-up for the Brazilian number one — Hibino was coming off of a breakout week in Tashkent where she claimed her maiden WTA singles title.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the seeds on day one though; fourth seed Elina Svitolina and eighth seed Zheng Saisai both suffered surprise losses at the first hurdle. Svitolina, who was coming off of her best season at the professional level, was upset by Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4. Vesnina has had a lot of success on the doubles side in the last twelve months, but she has been unable to find that same success on the singles side.
With all things considered, this is a big win for the Russian and this result should give her a much-needed confidence boost considering she has been unable to win consecutive matches in recent months. Zheng on the other hand, was upset by Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-3. After winning the $125,000 WTA event in Dalian last month, Zheng was beginning to play some of the best tennis of her career, which was a big confidence boost for the Chinese woman after a disappointing 2015 season. But against Rodina, the WTA Rising Star couldn’t seem to find her rhythm, as she made error after error against the Russian. Despite not at her best, Rodina’s solid counter-punching was enough to hold off Zheng, which eventually resulted in a straight sets win for the 26-year-old.
Other notable winners on day one
Other notable winners on day one included Polish number two Magda Linette, Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova, and China’s Qiang Wang. Linette won a tight opening set before running away with a 7-6(3), 6-1 win over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. Kulichkova defeated one of Romania’s biggest tennis hopefuls after Simona Halep in Patricia Maria Tig 6-3, 6-4, while Qiang defeated her compatriot Zhang Yuxuan 7-5, 6-4 in a high-quality two-set battle in front of an intrigued Chinese crowd.
Kichenoks, Savchuk and Vaidisova qualify for main draw
Monday marked the final day of qualifying for the main draw at the 2015 Tianjin Open. After winning their first two rounds, the remaining eight players were all attempting to secure one of the four coveted spots in the main draw. After all of the matches were completed, it was determined that Lyudmyla Kichenok, Nadiia Kichenok, Olga Savchuk and Nicole Vaidisova all qualified for the main draw.
Lyudmyla defeated the number two seed and home favourite Yang Zhaoxuan in straight sets, while her sister Nadiia defeated another Chinese woman in Lu Jing-Jing, also in straight sets. Their compatriot Olga Savchuk was also victorious in her attempt to qualify for the main draw. The Ukrainian joined the Kichenoks in the main draw with a three set win over American Nicole Melichar. Elsewhere, Nicole Vaidisova — who has been trying to rebuild her career after stepping away from the game for more than five years — qualified for her third WTA tournament since beginning her comeback a little over twelve months ago, with a hard-fought win over Hiroko Kuwata.
When the qualifiers were placed in the main draw, it was determined that Lyudmyla Kichenok would have to face US Open champion Flavia Pennetta, in what could be Pennetta’s last singles match on the WTA tour. The winner of the match will face the winner of the match between Nicole Vaidisova and Duan Ying-Ying. Nadiia Kichenok will face Urszula Radwanska, while her compatriot Olga Savchuk will face the other Radwanska, Agnieszka Radwanska.