China returns to WTA calendar in autumn after four years

St. Petersburg: China returns to the Women’s Tennis Association autumn calendar after a four-year absence with seven tournaments in the mainland and Hong Kong confirmed on Friday. With the exception of last year’s Beijing Winter Olympics, which took place in a “bubble”, most global sports halted in China after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged there in late 2019. The WTA had also suspended events in China for 16 months until last April in the wake of a sexual assault claim by Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. On Friday, the WTA announced the 2023 autumn calendar “outlining the tournaments that will take place following the US Open through to the WTA Finals” which takes place in the Chinese city of Shenzhen from 30 October. The Guangzhou event will be the first tournament in China starting the week of 18 September. It will be followed by Ningbo from 25 September with the China Open in Beijing from 2 October, one of two WTA 1000 events scheduled along with Guadalajara from 18 September. Zhengzhou will be included in WTA 500 events from 9 October along with San Diego and Tokyo, which both take place in September. Guangzhou (18 September), Ningbo (25 September), Hong Kong (9 October) and Nanchang (16 October) are among WTA 250 tournaments, along with Osaka, Seoul and Monastir. In addition, the WTA Elite Trophy second-tier tournament takes place in Zhuhai in China from 23 October. The WTA said that along with the tournaments confirmed on Friday “continual expansion of WTA 125 events across several continents with an updated schedule released in the coming weeks”. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.