Emma Raducanu amongst big-name players to play Hong Kong Open

Some of the big-name players in women’s tennis are set to participate in the Hong Kong Open later this year. Interestingly, there will be two different Hong Kong Open to be played. One is classified as a WTA 125 and it will be played from September 30 to October 06 whereas the other will be a WTA 250 event which will be played from October 28 to November 03.

The WTA 250 event will feature some of the big-name players, including a Grand Slam winner in Britain’s Emma Raducanu. The development was confirmed by the Hong Kong and China Tennis Association (HKCTA). Along with Raducanu, Olympics silver medal winner Wang Xinyu of China will also feature in the tournament. Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and America’s Danielle Collins have also announced their availability for the competition.

HKCTA president Michael Cheng was also quoted in a report where he stated that the tournaments will give international and local stars to showcase their talent and win the ultimate prize. "Hong Kong has the distinction of being only one of three cities in Asia, aside from Beijing and Tokyo, to stage both an ATP and WTA Tour event," he said. "The introduction of a WTA 125 event to Hong Kong this year provides an exciting new competitive opportunity for our elite local women players, along with other 'rising stars' in the region and internationally.”

Alongside women's tennis, there will be an ATP 250 event as well. This year, in the WTA 250 event, Canada’s Fernandez will be defending her crown. She defeated Katerina Siniakova in the final in straight sets with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2023 to lift the title. Last year, the tournament was organised after a gap of nearly five years. The tournament’s first edition was back in 2014 and it was continuously played till 2018. However, with the outbreak of Covid-19 and other technical difficulties, the tournament was not organised from 2019 to 2022.