Organizers of the Shenzhen Open have announced a star-studded line-up for the sixth edition of the Chinese WTA Tournament which will take place from 30th December 2017 to 6th January 2017. World Number 1 Simona Halep leads the field which also features this year’s surprising Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova and Wang Quiang, the youngest player in the top 50.
Halep will be bidding to win the Shenzhen Open for the second time in his career two years after beating Timea Bacsinszky 6-2 6-2 in the title match. She lost to Katerina Siniakova in the second round in this year’s edition last January. China is a lucky country for Halep, who has reached the world number spot at this year’s China Open in Beijing last October after beating Ostapenko in the semifinal but lost the final to Caroline Garcia in the final. During the clay season Halep won the Madrid title beating Kristina Mladenovic in the final and finished runner-up to Elina Svitolina in Rome and to Ostapenko at Roland Garros. She lost the Cincinnati final against Garbine Muguruza but was knocked out in the first round by Maria Sharapova at the US Open. Halep became the seventh player to reach the first round the world number 1 spot without winning a Grand Slam tournament.
Ostapenko enjoyed a breakthrough season in which she won her maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. She went on to win her second title in Seoul. At the Wuhan Open the young Latvian player scored her first win over a world number 1 player when she beat Garbine Muguruza. At her first WTA Finals in Singapore she beat Karolina Pliskova but lost to Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams and was eliminated from the Round Robin.
Sharapova won her first title in two years in her 2017 come-back season on Chinese soil in Tianjin without dropping a set. She came back from 1-4 down in the first set and from 1-5 down in the second set to beat 19-year-old Aryna Sabalenka in the Tianjin final. In the third round of the China Open the Russian star lost to Halep in straight sets in the third round.
“We are very excited to be welcoming these great players to the Shenzhen Open. Simona, the World Number 1 has been a regular visitor to the event and has always enjoyed her time here having won the title in 2015. We are thrilled to welcome Maria and Jelena for the first time and Wang Qiang will join us for the sixth time having reached the quarters for the last two years”, said Tournament Director Nick Freyer.
