Running from September 18th to 23rd, the Guangzhou Open will herald the official restart of tennis tournaments on Chinese soil.
The draw for the 17th edition of the tournament has been released, throwing up some exciting matches for avid tennis fans to look ahead, and we've got it covered in this article. The singles field features 32 players, spearheaded by World No. 24 Magda Linette.
We've crowned the first champion of the autumnal Asian swing, with 19-year-old Ashlyn Krueger winning a maiden WTA title at the Japan Championships. The American teenager joins the parade of first-time titlist at Tour level this season, could we witness such a recurrence in Guangzhou?
Firstly, there are no Top 20 players in the field at the Guangzhou Open, which means this is a wonderful opportunity for the lesser-ranked players to stake their claims. The top seed Magda Linette is the sole Top-30 player in the field but faces a treacherous path to the title.
The Pole starts off her campaign against British World No. 85 Jodie Burrage. If she wins that match, she will play one of Daria Saville or Anna-Lena Friedsam with a projected quarterfinal against Rebeka Masarova looming on the horizon.
The bottom half of the draw is led by second seed Lin Zhu who has bumped up a spot following the withdrawal of Sorana Cirstea. Lin finished runner-up in Osaka to Krueger, and she could have her hands full in her opening match against former Top 50 player Anna Kalinskaya.
China's presence in the draw is fostered by the likes of Xiyu Wang, Yue Yuan, Zhuoxuan Bai, and Xiaodi You. Among them, Wang and You have the toughest draws, facing Nadia Podoroska and Yulia Putintseva respectively. While Yuan will take on Germany's Tamara Korpatsch.
There will be a next-generation matchup between 20-year-old Clara Tauson and 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova. While French one-hander Diane Parry will look to snap her four-match losing streak when she confronts Belgium's Greet Minnen.
2023 Guangzhou Open WTA Draw:
| 1. Magda Linette (1) |
| 2. Jodie Burrage |
| 3. Daria Saville |
| 4. Anna-Lena Friedsam |
| 5. Rebecca Marino |
| 6. Viktorija Golubic |
| 7. Kateryna Baindl |
| 8. Rebeka Masarova (5) |
| 9. Tatjana Maria (3) |
| 10. Alexandra Eala |
| 11. Despina Papamichail |
| 12. Zhouxuan Bai |
| 13. Xiaodi You |
| 14. Yulia Putintseva |
| 15. Clara Tauson |
| 16. Linda Fruhvirtova (6) |
| 17. Greet Minnen (7) |
| 18. Diane Parry |
| 19. Harriet Dart |
| 20. Jule Niemeier |
| 21. Moyuka Uchijima |
| 22. Jessika Ponchet |
| 23. Ya Yi Yang |
| 24. Lucia Bronzetti (4) |
| 25. Claire Liu (8) |
| 26. Diana Shnaider |
| 27. Nadia Podoroska |
| 28. Xiyu Wang |
| 29. Yue Yuan |
| 30. Tamara Korpatsch |
| 31. Anna Kalinskaya |
| 32. Lin Zhu (2) |
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