Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off kicks off in Shenzhen
Asia's top tennis talent will descend on Shenzhen, China this week to battle it out for a prized wildcard into the main draw of Australian Open 2016.
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, 2 December 2015 | tennis.com.au
Sixteen men and 16 women will this week do battle in Shenzhen with one common goal – a wildcard into the main draw at Australian Open 2016.
That’s the prize on offer for the men’s and women’s winner at the 2016 Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off (AWP).
And with many of the region’s best players in action, the quality of tennis promises to be memorable.
China dominates both fields, with 10 of the 16 competitors in both events hailing from the host nation.
Yet in the men’s draw, Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka heads the field; the top seed takes on Wu Hao in his opening match.
Potentially blocking the world No.142’s path to the wildcard are a host of seeded Chinese players in his half of the draw; No.5 seed Wu Di – his projected quarterfinal opponent – and Bai Yan and Li Zhe, the fourth and sixth seeds respectively.
All are ranked inside the world’s top 250.
The bottom half of the draw contains second seed Zhang Ze of China, who opens against compatriot Zhou Shenghao.
Zhang’s projected semifinal opponent is third seed Yang Tsung-Hua of Taiwan.
The women’s draw features top seed Wang Yafan, currently ranked 136th after winning 39 matches in 2015.
She faces a projected quarterfinal against No.7 seed Shuko Aoyama of Japan, while third seed Lee Ya-Hsuan of Taiwan looms as a potential semifinal foe.
In the bottom half of the draw sits No.2 seed Han Xinyun, while Thailand’s Varatchaya Wongteanchai rounds out the top four seeds.
This week’s AWP also features men’s and women’s doubles events and boys’ and girls’ singles events.
You can follow the action through our live streaming and live scores; play begins on Wednesday at 1pm AEDT.
For more information, visit our Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off page.