Women’s tennis is back in Beijing as the China Open returns to the WTA Tour for the first time in quite some time. After 2019, which Naomi Osaka won, the 2020, 2021, and 2022 editions were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heading into this tournament, there’s actually a new No. 1 player in the updated WTA rankings. And that person is Aryna Sabalenka, who is keen on evoking good memories here in the Forbidden City.
Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek will look to get back on track as she has hit a rough patch recently, while Coco Gauff will get to play in her first tournament since winning the 2023 US Open not too long ago.
Let’s discuss these three top players in detail today at SBOTOP as we look forward to an exciting tournament ahead.
Sabalenka to live up to her “Daughter of China” moniker
Aryna Sabalenka returns to the country that sparked her career, as four of her first five titles came here in China: 2018 Wuhan, 2019 Shenzhen, 2019 Wuhan, and the 2019 WTA Elite Trophy.
Sabalenka has come a long way since the last time she was in China. Back then, she had yet to crack into the Top 10, and now she is the top-seeded WTA player and reigning Australian Open champion.
Now that she’s back to where it all began, Sabalenka will be looking to win another trophy here, which will help her bid to stay at the top of the WTA rankings.
The 25-year-old Belarusian international rose to the top because she picked up form after her disappointing run in the Canadian Open last month, where she was eliminated early in the Round of 32.
In the Cincinnati Masters, Sabalenka went as far as the semi-finals before pushing Coco Gauff to the limit in the US Open final. It also helped Sabalenka that Iga Swiatek, who was No. 1 at the time, couldn’t make a deep run in those tournaments, which meant that the Polish had fewer points to tack on.
However, the China Open 2023 odds say that Sabalenka will have a tough time in Beijing, but we wouldn’t be surprised if she‘d have positive China Open 2023 results.
Sabalenka will open her tournament against Sofia Kenin, who is peaking at the right time and has already beaten her this year during the second round of the Italian Open in May, although Sabalenka holds a slim 2-1 edge in her overall head-to-heads against Kenin.
Swiatek on a slump
Because of Sabalenka’s rise, Iga Swiatek is now the No. 2-ranked player in the WTA, which is not bad at all by any means.
Despite falling a notch lower in the WTA rankings, Swiatek achieved a new milestone as she has reached her 100th consecutive week in the Top 10 along with 75 weeks at the No. 1 spot, impressive feats for a player just 22 years old.
But Swiatek hasn’t been the same since August. During the US Open, the Polish international was on the wrong end of an upset against Jelena Ostapenko in the Round of 16, and then she was eliminated in the Japan Open quarter-finals and the Toray Pan Pacific Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Swiatek will make her China debut against Sara Sorribes Tormo, against whom she has a 1-0 advantage in the overall head-to-head. She leads the fourth quarter of the tournament bracket with Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and former China Open titlists Carolina Garcia and Victoria Azarenka.
Gauff goes back to work
Coco Gauff comes into this tournament with high confidence because she is having a solid summer, winning titles in the Citi Open and the Cincinnati Masters before taking home her maiden Grand Slam in the US Open two weeks ago, making her the third first-time Grand Slam winner on the WTA Tour this year and sixth in the last three years.
With that said, Gauff has a big target on her back here at the China Open. Because she has won 18 of her past 19 matches, the 19-year-old is now No. 3 in the updated WTA rankings.
She will make her China debut against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round, which might be a tricky contest since they have split their two previous meetings.
And Gauff won’t have much time to rest regardless of what happens in the China Open because she has accepted a wild card to play the Zhengzhou Open, which will start on October 9.
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