AAP Tennis

Aussies downed in Wuhan after contrasting matches

By AAP Newswire

Oct 14, 2026

Australia's interest in the Wuhan Open did not last long with both entrants beaten in the first round, but Kim Birrell put up a real fight.

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Opening play on court 2 the German-born Queenslander won the first set against qualifier Katie Volynets and looked on course to repeat last month's quarter-final win over the American en route to winning the Korea Open.

But Volynets came back to reach the last 32 in just over three hours 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

"The first set was really close," said the winner. "I didn't do as well as her in the tiebreaker. In the second set, I upped the aggression another gear and stayed with it. I knew that I had to do my best to beat her, so I'm glad that it went my way this time."

Daria Kasatkina lost rather more easily, dispatched by Jelena Ostapenko 6-1 6-1 in less than an hour.

The main shock in Tuesday's play was 240-singles ranked Chinese Guo Hanyu, the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion, beating No.16 Sorana Cirstea 1-6 7-6 (7-6) 7-5.

Guo was down 6-1 4-0 when momentum shifted. The home player won five games in a row, then broke back when the Romanian was serving for the match at 6-5.

She next saved three match points in a row from 3-6 down in the tiebreak.

Up 3-1 in the third set, Guo faced Cirstea coming back to lead 5-3, but then won the next four games to win the epic.

She later revealed she had been playing under emotional strain for several months.

"After Wimbledon, I got the news that my dad was very seriously ill," she said. "So he's in the hospital, and he's in the ICU, and he's actually experiencing pain.

"It's really difficult for me when I come back home. I try to accompany my dad; I try to do something about it. Knowing this actually made me feel quite helpless.

"No matter what kind of efforts you make, I'm struggling recently because I cannot just have a happy moment on the court and enjoy the game. I will always have a kind of sorrow, so that's why I made a lot of efforts."

Among other ties Maria Sakkari damaged Marta Kostyuk's chances of making the WTA Finals with a comeback 4-6 6-2 6-2 win, Maja Chwalinska beat Egyptian Mayar Sherif in straight sets and in-form Elise Mertens was beaten by Ukrainian Daria Snigur 6-4 7-5.