The Kazakh-Chinese duo of Anna Danilina (6) and Zhang Shuai (7) failed to reach the semifinals of the Wuhan Open tennis tournament, losing in the quarterfinals to Italians Sara Errani (17) and Jasmine Paolini (37) 3-6, 2-6, infohub.kz reports.
Due to their opponents' withdrawal, Danilina and Zhang Shuai played their first match at the Chinese WTA 1000 event only today. They were unable to overcome the experienced Italians, multiple Grand Slam champions.
In the first set, Danilina and her partner broke serve in the third game but lost two of their own. In the second set, the duo had no breaks at all. The result: 3-6, 2-6 in just 1 hour and 8 minutes.
Last year, Danilina reached the final here with Serbian Aleksandra Krunić. This time, the Kazakhstani player fell just short of the semifinals.
The singles semifinalists were also determined. Competing for a spot in the final are Poles Iga Świątek (9) and Maja Chwalińska (22), as well as Jelena Ostapenko (34) of Latvia and Britain's Sonay Kartal (170).
World No. 1 Elena Rybakina, while recovering from injury, withdrew from defending the 215 ranking points she earned in Wuhan last year. The 2025 champion Coco Gauff (5) of the United States, who is also skipping the tournament, will lose 1,000 points.
Top-10 players Aryna Sabalenka (2), Jessica Pegula (4), Elina Svitolina (6), Karolína Muchová (7), and Marta Kostyuk (10) did not make it to the semifinals.
The women's Wuhan Open replaced the Japanese WTA 500 Pan Pacific Open in the tennis calendar in 2014. Since 2025, the Wuhan Open has held WTA 1000 status.
Due to the tragic reasons that made the city of Wuhan famous worldwide, the tournament was not held from 2020 to 2023. Previously, it was won by Czech Petra Kvitová (2014, 2016), American Venus Williams (2015), and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (2017). Sabalenka won the trophy three times in a row (2018, 2019, and 2024).