WUHAN — Guo Hanyu produced the comeback of the second day at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open, overturning a set and a 4-0 deficit to beat No. 12 seed Sorana Cirstea 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 in an emotional 2-hour, 41-minute first-round contest.
Guo saves three match points in career-best ranking win
The Chinese world No. 240 erased three match points before closing out the No. 16-ranked Cirstea, collecting only her second WTA 1000 singles victory and her first tour-level main-draw win since Jiujiang in 2025.
- Guo’s win is the highest-ranked victory of her career.
- She became the lowest-ranked player to defeat a Top 20 opponent in Wuhan since the tournament began in 2014.
- The 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 recovery came after she trailed by a set and four games.
- Her second-round opponent will be qualifier Katie Volynets.
Volynets reached that meeting after an equally demanding turnaround against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell. She lost the opening-set tiebreak 7-6(1), then prevailed 7-6(3), 6-3 in 3 hours and six minutes.
For Guo, the result carried significance beyond the draw. After winning the Wimbledon women’s doubles title alongside Kristina Mladenovic during the summer, she learned that her father had become seriously ill and was in intensive care. Since Wimbledon, she had played just four events across singles and doubles.
“It is very difficult when I return home,” Guo said in Mandarin, becoming tearful during her press conference. “I try to be with my father and try to do something, but knowing the situation makes me feel helpless.”
She said the circumstances had made it hard to fully embrace either tennis or the happiness of her Wimbledon breakthrough. “I cannot simply have a happy moment on court and enjoy the match,” she said. “There is always some sadness there, which is why I have been making so much effort.”
Guo described the third set as another moment in which a narrow defeat had appeared possible. “Those close losses are always painful,” she said. “I tell myself to be who I am and leave the rest to fate. All I can do in tennis is give 100 percent on court and see what the result is.”
Samsonova withstands Siniakova surge
Liudmila Samsonova opened Tuesday’s Centre Court programme against Katerina Siniakova and moved into the second round after a three-set encounter in their fifth career meeting. Samsonova surrendered just one game in the first set, but Siniakova — who appeared to be struggling physically at times — forced the match into a deciding set.
The victory gave Samsonova a 3-2 edge in their head-to-head series and set up a second-round appointment with fifth seed Elina Svitolina.
“If you give her even a little time to play, she plays extremely well,” Samsonova said of Siniakova. “She has a lot of talent and can make you play badly. The aim today was honestly not to allow her to play too much, and I am very happy with the level I brought.”
Samsonova said her lighter first half of the season has left her with energy for the remaining Asian hard-court swing. Her recent results include a fourth-round run in Toronto and a semifinal appearance in Guadalajara.
- Samsonova will next face No. 5 seed Svitolina in Wuhan.
- Her planned post-Wuhan schedule includes Osaka.
- She is also entered in the Tokyo qualifying draw.
“I had a quiet first six months of the year,” Samsonova said. “Now I am starting to play better. Because I did not play many matches early in the season, I have more energy at the end of it. I will continue until the end if my body allows.”
Putintseva survives another Sonmez marathon
Yulia Putintseva and Zeynep Sonmez renewed a rivalry that had already delivered a three-set Australian Open contest in January, and their Wuhan first-round meeting again required a long finish.
Putintseva defeated Sonmez 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-5 in 2 hours and 51 minutes, recovering after a one-sided opening-set tiebreak to advance from a match played in a notably calmer atmosphere than their Melbourne encounter.
At the Australian Open, Putintseva had beaten Sonmez 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 in 2 hours and 34 minutes amid heavy crowd support for the Turkish player. Putintseva later said she had coped with the noise by singing a song about rabbits in her head, before celebrating the win with a brief dance.
This time, the crowd was less of a factor, but the scoreline remained tight throughout. The Kazakh will face 11th seed Diana Shnaider in Wednesday’s second round.
