For the best tennis players on the planet, last week was spent on the courts of this year’s final compulsory WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. Major competitions in China punctuated all the highlights in the fight to get into the WTA Final Tournament and also gave Ukrainian fans good emotions after several excellent matches of our tennis players. We also played in smaller tournaments last week and we have reasons to celebrate here as well.

WTA 1000 Beijing

Competitions in the Chinese capital returned to these courts after four years. In 2019, Naomi Osaka beat Ashleigh Barty in the finals and Elina Svitolina advanced to the quarterfinals. The following year, the world was gripped by a coronavirus epidemic and China remained closed for a long time. In 2021, a story also emerged regarding tennis player Peng Shuai, who alleged harassment by former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. The tennis world was outraged by this story, especially its silence. The WTA has vowed not to compromise its principles and return to China until there is evidence that Peng Shuai is safe and his case has not stopped.

As a result, nothing is known for sure about the fate of the tennis player, but the competitions returned to China anyway. According to various sources, the WTA is overly dependent on China, which provides about a third of the association’s profits. The departure of women’s tennis from the Middle Kingdom could cost women’s tennis tens of millions of dollars. Also note that the Final Tournament was previously planned to be held in Shenzhen for 10 years. It is not worth explaining how problematic the search for new venues has been in recent years. This year, for example, the venue was found just two months before it started. The choice of Cancun surprised me logistically because returning to North America after China is incredibly difficult for tennis players. However, the Saudi Arabia option has caused much more criticism here for political reasons.

For Ukrainians, the competition in Beijing began with the fact that: Katerina Beindl successfully passed the qualification barrier. Katya first took revenge on the Spaniard Rebecca Masarova, whom she lost in Guangzhou, and defeated Yanina Wickmayer from Belgium in the qualifying final. The first match at the main tournament in Beijing was not very successful for Beindl, her opponent was the world’s 10th racket Caroline Garcia, her chances were small. However, in the second set, the Ukrainian was the first to break, but after that the Frenchwoman proved to be stronger (6:2, 6:4).

It started with a brilliant and unexpected victory in the main draw Angelina Kalinina. In the first round, she had to fight the world’s No. 8 racket and current Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who was on the court for the first time since the US Open. The Czech player easily took the first set and was close to breaking first in the second game, but in the fourth game the Ukrainian fought back to three break points. This was a turning point and after that the Ukrainian was already the best on the field. As a result, Kalinina achieved her highest points victory on hard court and Vondrousova was subjected to a lot of insults on social networks. People who gamble excessively – they are like that regardless of nationality, creed and skin colour. Kalinina, who came out strong as expected from Australian representative Daria Saville in the second round, lost to Caroline Garcia for the second time in 7 days in the third round. The French woman was better in every aspect this time, it must be admitted.

Marta KostyukThe tournament, which has not satisfied us with its success for a long time, also had a successful tournament. It all started with a strong will against Elisabetta Cocciaretto. The 22-year-old Italian player struggled with injuries after his success in the first part of the season and his first championship, and played for the first time since the US Open. Cocciaretto started the match well but did not have the strength to continue playing at a high level, Marta took advantage of this to make a comeback. In the second round, Kostyuk was also lucky as world number seven Ons Jabeur tired after winning the title in Ningbo. The Tunisian athlete had visible problems moving on the field and was unable to beat the Ukrainian with his superior skill. Marta pushed the fight when Jabeur was still fresh, and as soon as her opponent started playing noticeably worse, she did not relax and took the fight to victory. Until this year, Marta had similar chances at the top, but she missed them. In the third round, which was Kostyuk’s first round at this level, the opportunity arose to beat Lyudmila Samsonova for the first time, but the “neutral” tennis player suddenly played at her high level after 0:3 in the final match. and it must be admitted that on such surfaces it is higher than Kostyuk’s. It was not for nothing that Samsonova also beat Ostapenko and Rybakina and lost only to Swiatek in the final.

Also in the main draw Lesya Tsurenko. In the first round, Zhu Lin withdrew from his match with the Ukrainian, usually the opposite is true. The Chinese player, who was not feeling well after 9 lost matches, consulted the medical team and made this difficult decision. Official reason for withdrawal: dizziness. The second round match against Veronika Kudermetova started unexpectedly well for Lesya, the Ukrainian won the first match with a score of 6:3. And then this was what happened: the “neutral” athlete completely outplayed the Ukrainian, giving him two “steers”. In the final two sets, Kudermetova struggled on serve only once.

The overall battles for the singles cup were interesting. Unlike the competition in Guadalajara, where only 3 representatives from the top 10 came, everyone played in Beijing, except for Karolina Muchova. Polka looked best from the beginning Iga SwiatekIt is probably far from losing its status as the world’s first racket. The Polish player lost only one set before the final on the capital’s court, losing to Garcia in the tiebreak. By the way, the Frenchwoman served 13 aces in that match; this was a record for any tennis player in matches against Swiatek.

Otherwise, Iga confidently coped with her opponents, including US Open champion Coco Goff. 9 wins in 10 matches against such an opponent is an unimaginable achievement. In the final, Samsonova, who lost the third of the three finals this season, was eliminated. At the age of 23, Swiatek won her sixth WTA 1000 title; This was something no one had ever achieved before. Caroline Wozniacki also had 8 finals at this level, but the Danish representative missed out on another title.

Swiatek came close to Aryna Sabalenka’s 465 points. The current leader of the world rankings lost to Elena Rybakina at the 1/4 final stage in Beijing. Meanwhile, the Kazakhstan representative won its fourth match in a row against the world’s top rackets. The last time this success was achieved on the women’s tour was Swiss Belinda Bencic between 2015 and 2019.

It is worth noting that one of the key figures of the tournament was Maria Sakkari, who after her victory in Guadalajara entered a serious struggle to get a ticket to the WTA Final Tournament. She reached the quarterfinals in Beijing, where she lost to Coco Goff. After this, the final eight participants were created: Iga Swiatek, Arina Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Goff, Jessica Pegula, Marketa Vondrousova, Ons Jabeur and Carolina Muchova. It is interesting that the WTA Finals champion will not be able to compete in the tournament for the third consecutive year. Last year the trophy was awarded to Caroline Garcia.

As for couples, Nadezhda Kichenok Romanian Monica Niculescu managed to pass the first round, but then lost to Kudermetova in a duet with Brazil’s Beatrice Haddad Maia. Lyudmila Kichenok and Alena Ostapenko initially lost to the duo from China. As a result, the victory was celebrated here by the couple Maria Bouzkova (Czech Republic) / Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spain).

ATP 500 Beijing / ATP 250 Astana

The men only completed competitions in China and Kazakhstan this week. Italian wins China Open Jannik SinnerHe is the one who beat Daniil Medvedev in the championship match for the first time in his career. Before this, Sinner had dealt with the world’s second racket, Carlos Alcaraz. It is not for nothing that Yannick’s extraordinary performance made him one of the four strongest tennis players in the world.

Experienced became the best in Astana Adrian MannarinoIn the final, he turned out to be stronger than American Sebastian Korda. The 35-year-old Frenchman is approaching his personal best in the world rankings (22nd in 2018, now 23rd) and has won two ATP titles in one season for the first time in his career.

Zavatskaya title

Katarina’s health problems have not gone away this season, but she is somehow trying to return to her previous level. Zavatskaya has repeatedly stated that she is ready to participate in competitions in all categories, the main thing is that she has the opportunity to compete. Last week the Ukrainian athlete competed in the ITF 40K clay competition in Lisbon and it brought success. Katarina was one of the second hundred tennis players of the tournament, the rest had lower ratings. The Ukrainian player, who defeated her opponents in two sets in the first matches, had to achieve victory in the semi-finals and finals due to the fighting qualities of Katarina. In the 1/2 final, the Ukrainian player managed to escape with a score of 2:5 in the final set with a tiebreak against Francis Jorge from Portugal. The team managed to break the resistance of Gergana Topalova from Bulgaria in the championship match and went to the final match with a score of 7:5.

For Zavatskaya, this is her second ITF title this season. She had previously won the 60,000 meters race in Brescia. Katarina’s victory at the tournament in Portugal will allow her to move up 25 places in the world rankings.

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Additions, expansions by Katarina Zavatska (@katya_zavatska_)

Other ATP Challenger and ITF tournaments

Alexey Krutykh Starting from the qualifiers, he competed in the territorial struggle in Lisbon. In the opening round of the main tour, the Ukrainian had a strong victory over Korea’s Gerard Campana Lee, but lost in the next match to second-seeded Flavio Cobolli from Italy (6:7, 3:6).

Vitaly Sachko He followed a similar tournament path against the tough opponent in Mouiron-les-Captif. He first beat Canada’s Gabriel Diallo, then lost to France’s Antoine Escoffier. Ilya Marchenko completed his performance against the same opponent very quickly. He lost in the first round to Benjamin Bonzi of France in two tiebreaker matches.

Eric Vanshelboim She got off to a great start at the 25,000 meters clay competition in Bulgaria, beating her lower-ranked opponents in two-set matches. Unfortunately, in the semi-finals, the Ukrainian athlete lost to 20-year-old Martin Krumich from the Czech Republic.

A strange situation arose at the 25,000-person ITF event in Reims. Former world number five Lucia SafarovaHe won his opening match, given a wild card by the organisers, and was subsequently eliminated from the competition. The fact is that the 36-year-old Czech did not book his return on the ITF tour, as he planned to play in only one tournament. The Roland Garros 2015 finalist also stated that he was not aware of such a procedure.

Other News

The reason for the withdrawal has only now been learned. Belinda Bencic From the tournament in Guadalajara. The Swiss suffered from severe food poisoning and therefore lost around ten days, unable to even train. It is stated that Belinda missed the tournament in Beijing, will not play in Zhengzhou, and is likely to participate in other competitions until the end of the year.

back to education Rafael Nadal. Of course, the Spanish player will not be able to play anywhere this season and will focus on a full comeback next season.

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Additions, expansions Rafa Nadal (@rafaelnadal)

Australian Open organizers said the tournament will be held over 15 days starting in 2024. The first round matches will be played over 3 days, not 2. Overall, good news for fans and tennis players alike.

Former tennis referee Sergei Udovkin, who also officiated in Elina Svitolina’s youth matches, lost his life on the front line. Udovkin left to defend Ukraine in 2014. Sergei’s wife, daughter and son survived.