In Pictures: Anna Kalinskaya, Daria Kasatkina and girlfriend Natalia, Mirra Andreeva, and others dazzle at Ningbo Open players' party
The Ningbo Open has begun with an opening ceremony player's party by WTA. It featured multiple players like Daria Kasatkina, her girlfriend Natalia, Mirra Andreeva, Anna Kalinskaya, and several others.
The tournament started on 12 October and will conclude on the 20th in Ningbo, China. This year the event has made its debut as a WTA 500 after being a WTA 250 in 2023, and the final winner will receive a whopping amount of $142,000 as prize money. This year, it features 28 players in singles with seven top-10 players such as Paula Badosa, Kalinskaya, Barbora Krejcikova, and several others.
Amidst this, to celebrate the tournament opening, the players were welcomed through the Ningbo Open party night. WTA shared a carousel of pictures of the athletes, dressed in traditional Chinese attire on Instagram. The post's caption read:
"A night out in Ningbo."
The opening performances of elite players at the Ningbo Open
Multiple elite players like Anna Kalinskaya, Badosa, Andreeva, and others have started playing at the Ningbo Open. The starting did not pan out as expected for Kalinskaya since her first match was canceled, which was supposed to be held on 14 October against Anastasia Paptova. However, a new match was scheduled against the Australian player, Priscilla Hon.
A similar situation was faced by Daria Kasatkina, whose first round was against Anna Bodoir on 14 October; however, it has been rescheduled for the 16th against Katerina Siniakova. Another tennis player who commenced her Ningbo Open journey on 14 October was Mirra Andreeva, who squared off against the American athlete Varvara Lepchenko and qualified for the next round by winning the match with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-0. She will compete against Tamara Korpatsch in the second round of the tournament.
Following her was Paula Badosa, who also delivered a dominant performance in round 1 of the tournament against Diana Shnaider. She qualified for the next round by grabbing the win with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Spanish athlete will next be seen competing against Wang Xiyu on 16 October in the second round of the tournament.
Ahead of this, she competed in the China Open, where she reached the semifinals but fell short of qualifying for the finals after facing defeat against Coco Gauff on 5 October, with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The Ningbo Open has commenced full-fledged and will deliver terrific head-to-head showdowns between multiple top-notch players.