Sinja Kraus Targets Second WTA 1000 Main Draw at Wuhan
Vienna-born tennis player Sinja Kraus secured a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Poland’s Magda Linette in the opening round of the Wuhan WTA-1000 hard-court tournament qualifying, LAOLA1 reported on Saturday. The 24-year-old Austrian, currently ranked No. 95 in the world, overcame two breaks of serve in the opening set before tightening her baseline play in the second set to eliminate the 34-year-old Linette, who entered the match at No. 80 in the WTA rankings.
Qualifying Final Against Zeynep Sönmez
To secure a spot in the main draw of the Wuhan tournament, Kraus must defeat fourth-seeded Turkish player Zeynep Sönmez in the final qualifying round. Sönmez, also 24 years old, holds the No. 58 spot in the WTA singles rankings. A victory over Sönmez would send Kraus into the main draw of a WTA-1000 event for the second time in the span of a week, following her recent deep run in Beijing.
Climbing the Live Rankings After Beijing Success
Kraus enters the Wuhan qualifiers on the heels of a breakthrough performance at the China Open in Beijing, where she advanced through the early rounds—including a win against Australia’s Maya Joint and a walkover when Anastasia Potapova retired due to shoulder problems—before reaching the round of 16, where she fell to the Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova. That Beijing run propelled Kraus toward a new career-high ranking. While her previous career-best was No. 80, the live WTA rankings place the Austrian at No. 76 ahead of Monday’s official list update.
Upcoming Match Schedule
The qualifying match between Sinja Kraus and Zeynep Sönmez determines who advances to the main draw of the Wuhan WTA-1000 hard-court tournament. Official tournament updates and live scores follow the conclusion of the qualifying schedule.
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