Two-time bronze medalist of the 2026 Asian Games Yulia Putintseva (82) has successfully come through qualifying for the Wuhan Open, a WTA-1000 tournament with a prize fund of $4.08 million. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

First qualifying round

In the first round of qualifying, the Kazakhstani player defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse (62). Trailing 5:7, 1:2, the Romanian tennis player withdrew from the match.

Battle for a place in the main draw

For a place in the main draw, the 31-year-old Putintseva also faced a higher-ranked opponent. Winning four games in a row against 22-year-old American Ashlyn Krueger (67), Yulia took a 4:0 lead. She ultimately took the set 6:1.

The Kazakhstani player also played the second set confidently. At 3:0, Yulia did concede two games in a row. However, she then won her opponent's serve to love and confirmed the break – 5:2. The match ultimately ended after 1 hour and 16 minutes with a score of 6:1, 6:3.

Putintseva's opponent at the start of the tournament's main draw will be determined after all qualifying matches are completed.

World No. 1 withdraws from tournament

World No. 1 Elena Rybakina, while recovering from an injury, declined to defend the 215 ranking points she earned in Wuhan last year. 2025 champion Coco Gauff of the United States, who is also skipping the tournament, will lose 1,000 points. All other Top-10 tennis players are preparing for the start of the 1000-level event.

Kazakhstan in doubles

In the doubles draw, Kazakhstan will be represented by another bronze medalist of the 2026 Asian Games, 31-year-old Anna Danilina (6). Paired with 37-year-old Chinese player Zhang Shuai (7), she will begin her campaign in the second round. The Kazakh-Chinese tandem is seeded second in Wuhan.

Tournament history

The women's Wuhan Open replaced the Japanese WTA-500 Pan Pacific Open in the tennis calendar in 2014. Since 2025, the Wuhan Open has held 1000-level status.

For well-known reasons that made the city of Wuhan infamous worldwide, the tournament was not held from 2020 to 2023. Before that, it was won by Czech Petra Kvitova (2014, 2016), American Venus Williams (2015), Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (2017) and three times in a row by Aryna Sabalenka (2018, 2019, 2024).