HONG KONG—German Sabine Lisicki, World Ranked No.31, is an exciting late addition to the WTA Prudential Hong Kong open currently being played at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium (Sept 8 to 14) featuring a 32 person singles and 16-team doubles competitions fighting for the US$250,000 prize money.
Lisicki was drafted into the draw following the withdrawal of US Open Quarter Finalist Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and China’s Peng Shuai who broke down with cramp during her US Open Semi-final against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark just a few days ago. Both players suffered from the boiling cauldrons of USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, Flushing Meadow with Peng Shuai in particular, badly affected.
The International line-up in the Hong Kong Open is still strong with Lisicki as top seed, but other notable names include former French Open winner, Italian Francesca Schiavone, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia winner of 5-singles titles from 2002 to 2013, American Mchale Christina (50) and Japan’s Kurumi Nara (33). Several next generation Chinese players are also taking part to add to the competition’s interest.
The Seeded players are Sabine Lisicki (1), Daniela Hantuchova (2), Karolina Puskova (3), Christina Mchale (4), Zheng Jie (5), Yanina Wickmayer (6), Jana Cepelova (7) and Anna Schmedlova (8).
