Wednesday at the 2014 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open saw two of the tournament’s star players win their matches in style.
First off, it was Daniela Hantuchova’s turn to kick off her Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open campaign. The Slovakian had an off-day on Tuesday and was the last of the tournament’s top seeds to play her first match in Victoria Park.
Hantuchova met local Hong Kong player Ling Zhang in the mid-day heat on center court with the favorite winning her first-round match in a dominant fashion.
Afterwards, Hantuchova went on the record calling the Hong Kong heat the worst conditions she has ever played tennis under, quite a statement considering that the 31 year-old has been on the WTA tour for more than 12 years now.
While Hantuchova had to cope with the highest temperatures during the day, Sabine Lisicki once more had the pleasure of playing under the lights in slightly more favorable conditions.
Unlike her rocky performance against Monica Niculescu last night, Lisicki fully lived up to her status of the tournament’s top seed on Wednesday, blazing past America’s Grace Min in just 40 minutes!
Another highlight on Wednesday was the matchup between two true WTA legends, as Francesca Schiavone played Kimiko Date-Krumm, a match-up of combined 77 years of age!
The two experienced veterans played an entertaining match despite the difficult conditions. Unfortunately, Date-Krumm was forced to retire from the match halfway through the second set with a shoulder injury.
After sharing a friendly hug with the Italian at the net, the Japanese veteran revealed that she plans on playing her next tournament next week and, despite turning 44 later this month, has firm plans on being on the WTA tour in 2015!
The 2014 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open will continue on Thursday. Crowd favorite Zheng Jie is due to play her second match, as is Daniela Hantuchova who will headline the tournament’s night session.
As usual, Women’s Tennis Blog will cover it all for you so keep checking back for more from the 2014 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open.
Wow the first Gajdosova photo (in the middle of the eighth row), with the sweat flying off, is the best representation of how hot it is in Hong Kong! Also, I like all the spectator pics and the smiling player portraits.