Wuhan Open Round-Up: Mirra Andreeva’s struggles continue; Swiatek and Osaka back to winning ways

The Wuhan Open continued to advance through its second day, which saw the completion of the first round and even featured a couple of second-round matches. The second seed, Iga Swiatek, debuted with a convincing straight-sets victory over Marie Bouzkova, while Mirra Andreeva suffered a disappointment by being eliminated in her debut by Laura Siegemund.

The day was also marked by wins from prominent names like Naomi Osaka, Karolína Muchova, and Belinda Bencic, in addition to a couple of injury withdrawals from Emma Raducanu and Jelena Ostapenko.

The 4-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka returned to the court with a victory against a complicated opponent, Leylah Fernandez. They had only one previous encounter—in the third round of the 2021 US Open, amidst Fernandez's stellar run to her first Grand Slam final. This time, the Japanese player took her revenge—more than four years later—coming back from a set down to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 after more than two and a half hours.

Osaka's service game was a rollercoaster, totaling 10 aces and 8 double faults—six of them in an erratic second set. Fernandez took the lead in the first set by capitalizing on a single break opportunity throughout the set, going ahead 6-4. However, the former World No. 1 reacted, overcoming a fighting Fernandez and proving better on the key points, securing 4 breaks on 9 chances, while Fernandez took three breaks, also on 9 opportunities. Osaka secured her place in the second round, where she will face the Czech Linda Nosková—China Open finalist last weekend, who defeated Putintseva in her debut.

The World No. 22 Karolína Muchova had another tough draw, as she faced Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (No. 26), in another battle that took more than two and a half hours and three sets, ending 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Kostyuk dominated the start, taking the lead 6-2 after 41 minutes with two breaks and impeccable service games. Muchova responded with a flawless second set from the service line (75% of service points won compared to Kostyuk's 48%). The Ukrainian committed six double faults in the second set, and Muchová returned the same score: 6-2, sending the match to a decider.

In the third set, an erratic start from both sides left a series of opportunities for both players, but Muchova was better on the key points, eventually taking a break lead. At 5-2, Muchova served for the win, but Kostyuk immediately broke back. However, that was short-lived, as minutes later—on another service chance—Muchova showed her experience and closed out the victory 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the second round, where she will face Magdalena Frech.

Mirra Andreeva suffered the disappointment of the day by becoming the first Top-10 player to be eliminated from the draw. The World No. 5 again suffered an early defeat, this time against Laura Siegemund after a battle of more than three hours, 7-6(4), 3-6, 3-6. The 18-year-old Russian survived a tight first set but lost control of the match thereafter, and the experienced 37-year-old Siegemund ultimately showed her authority to surprisingly advance to the second round.

The German capitalized on Andreeva's constant unforced errors, as the Russian committed an incredible 15 double faults throughout the match. Siegemund secured 8 breaks, compared to only 5 for Andreeva, who will now have to look for points in her last tournament, the Ningbo Open, as she begins to view her possibility of qualifying for the WTA Finals in a few weeks with some concern. Siegemund now awaits her third-round opponent between Muchova (12th) and Frech.

Iga Swiatek was one of the main stars of the day, delivering a notable debut performance against Marie Bouzková, winning 6-1, 6-1 in one hour and 19 minutes. The Pole conceded her serve only once and capitalized on six breaks to secure a simple victory against the Czech player.

Swiatek is looking to get back on track after a painful defeat in the quarterfinals of the China Open (where she was the top favorite). This time, as the second seed, she seeks to end her last tournament before the WTA Finals in the best possible way, although there isn't much at stake.

The 6-time Major champion still has a chance to snatch the top ranking from Aryna Sabalenka in the final part of the season, but she will have to win the title this week in Wuhan if she wants to close the gap and arrive at her final event in Riyadh with hope. Her next challenge will be against the winner of the match between Belinda Bencic and Elise Mertens.

Injuries also played their part this Tuesday at the Wuhan Open, where two Grand Slam champions retired before finishing their respective matches. World No. 30 Emma Raducanu couldn't do much against Ann Li. It was clear from the first set that things weren't right for the Brit, who was suffering from pain in her left calf and could never get into the rhythm set by her opponent. The American dominated from start to finish in just over an hour of play before Raducanu retired, sending Li to the second round with a score of 6-1, 4-1, ret.

Later, it was a similar case for Jelena Ostapenko, who suffered a painful exit against Romanian Sorana Cirstea, barely able to score points. The former French Open champion started particularly erratically and called for a medical time-out when the score was 0-5 in the first set. Upon her return to the court, Cîrstea achieved her third consecutive break and closed the set 6-0, winning 70% of the points played so far. Only a few minutes of the second set were played; Ostapenko managed an early break, but Cirstea quickly took control of the match again, before the Latvian decided to withdraw when the score was 6-0, 2-1 (ret.) in favor of the Romanian.