The protagonists from the just-completed China Open will give the WTA Wuhan event a miss, with both Zheng Qinwen and finalist Mirra Andreeva skipping the key Asian date.

Beijing weekend champion Zheng who thrilled a nation with her home title victory, is claiming a right shoulder injury which Andreeva feels “fatigue.”

“I’m very sorry to share that I will be withdrawing from this year’s Wuhan Open,” Zheng said in a statement. “Wuhan is where my tennis dream began, and the Wuhan Open is also where I made my breakthrough at the WTA 1000 level.

“I have always looked forward to competing in front of my hometown fans.

“Since returning from injury, however, I have played a demanding stretch of tennis over the past month and a half, competing at the US Open, the Billie Jean King Cup, and the China Open.

“My body is feeling very fatigued after this intense run of matches. I look forward to returning to the Wuhan Open next year and stepping onto the court in my best possible form!”

Andreeva’s Beijing performance has lifted the teenager into the ranking top 3 for the first time and gives her a shot at the world No. 1 ranking by season’s end next month.

Main photo :-Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd

Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.

Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.

Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.

The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.

In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.

She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.

“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.

“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”

Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming  the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.

“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,

“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.

“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.

“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”

Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd

Novak Djokovic on Friday staked his claim on a spot in the ATP Finals after losing his opening match at the Shanghai Masters.

The winner of the Beijing title for a record seventh time, went down quickly in Shanghai to polish giant Hubi Hurkacz 6-4, 6-3 in 88 minutes.

The 39-year-old Djokovic showed the accumulated fatigue of nearly two weeks on court in Beijing as he took the defeat in the country’s commercial capital.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion currently holds the provisional eighth and final spot in the field due to the early season end for injured world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

But to assure himself a return to the year-end field, the veteran Serb knows he must play the Paris Indoors the first week of November,

“I’m planning only to play in Paris or, let’s see. Hopefully, I can have a good result there,” he said as he left the court in Shanghai.

“Beijing was great. A very early exit here, but it’s okay. I’ve had a great week in Beijing, and I look forward to resting a little bit and getting ready for indoor (play).”

Hurkacz, who has missed months over the past few seasons with a knee operation and recovery, becomes only  the fourth man to defeat the iconic Big 3 on their personal preferred surfaces.

He has knocked out Djokovic on hard, Rafael Nadal on clay, and Roger Federer on grass, joining fellow spoilers Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev.