The 2017 JiangXi Women’s Tennis Open will feature a lot of Chinese players. Which one will break through, and will players who come to the tournament outside of Asia be able to stand in the way of a Chinese player before the final?
The competition in the 32-player main draw begins on Monday, July 24.
Event Details
Event: JiangXi Women’s International Tennis Open
Category: WTA International level
Date: July 24-30, 2017
Location: Nanchang International Tennis Center – Nanchang, China
The 2017 JiangXi Women’s Tennis Open is just the second version of its kind after the tournament began as a $125K event on the ITF circuit. This is an attempt by the WTA to grow the sport of tennis in China. A hometown winner would go a long way toward assisting in that goal.
The prize money is just over $226,000, a regular amount for an international-tier tournament.
Points
Champion – 280
Runner-up – 180
Semifinal – 110
Quarterfinal – 60
Round of 16 – 30
Former Champions and Results (1 Year)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016: Duan Yingying def. Vania King – 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
Player Info
China’s Peng Shuai was defeated by World No. 2 Simona Halep of Romania in the second round of the women’s singles event at Wimbledon. The 31-year-old Peng, who won the doubles title at Wimbledon in 2013, broke Halep early in the first set to go ahead 3-1 up, but was broken back immediately. The pattern continued in the second set – Halep was relentless and again won the most crucial points as Peng made a flurry of unforced errors.
Peng put up a spirited fight but Halep was clutch in the times she needed to be.
Peng plays in her home tournament in Nanchang. She won the inaugural event in 2014 (as an ITF event) and that’s her only title to date. The field in Nanchang expectedly has a lot of locals, but the Chinese hopes rest mostly on Peng to lift the trophy. Peng is a steady 26-15 on the year but her title column in 2017 still reads zero. Those numbers would be better if you don’t include the clay court part of the season. Peng struggles on that surface and went only 3-4 on the red surface. Other than that, she has a pretty healthy record – especially going 13-7 on the hard courts.
Kristyna Pliskova is ranked 41st in the world but has done well this year, winning more matches than she has lost: 19-16 The lesser known Pliskova has one WTA title to her name but that could change next week. She has improved drastically over the last 12 months and has climbed up the rankings quicker than one would have probably expected. The challenge is that she seems to struggle against the elite players and that seems to be a consistent theme in her tournaments. In the quarters or in the Round of 32 is when things get dicey for her, but she is coming off a finals appearance, so maybe she can build some momentum.
The field in Nanchang is weak and the trophy is there for the taking. The Czech may never get this kind of opening anytime soon.
For Jelena Jankovic, her best tennis days are well behind her and she knows that. Jankovic is 32 but she already looks physically spent. She has struggled this year — she has lost twice the number of matches as she has won: 8-16. It’s hard to bet on her these days. Once a top 10 player and a French Open finalist, Jankovic hasn’t even won a single match in any of her last four tournaments. That’s ugly. Don’t bother better her to win the event – even if the field looks like it could be a walk in the part for someone decent. It will be but not for her.
Jankovic plays in Nanchang, where she won the whole thing in 2015. The form she is in wouldn’t even help her to go beyond the quarterfinals. Once a solid performer, she is now the big name most vulnerable to early upsets on the WTA Tour.
Nanchang International Tennis Center
The new facility, part of China’s concerted and recent investment in sports, can house many different sports. It is a hardcourt tennis facility with accommodations worthy of a modern WTA event.
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