WTA Cancels Xi'an Open Due to Coronavirus Outbreak

The WTA Tour has cancelled the the women's Xi'an Open tennis tournament scheduled for next month in China due to the outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak.

The hardcourt event is part of the WTA 125K series and was scheduled to be played from April 13 to April 19. The draw was to feature 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams.

The outbreak of the virus has resulted in the death of more than  2,200 people and infected more than 75,000 in China after emerging late last year in Wuhan, Hubei province.

The WTA tour has said that it was monitoring the situation ahead of the tournaments that are scheduled on their calendar for the second half of the season.

Currently, WTA events are scheduled to be held in Zhengzhou, Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, Tianjin and Zhuhai in September and October.

The women's season-ending finale which features the top eight singles players and doubles teams takes place in Shenzhen from November 1st to November 8th.

A WTA spokesperson commented, "We continue to communicate with medical experts as information evolves on this virus, and we will work closely with them to monitor the situation."

This is the second tennis event to be affected due to the virus in China. The International Tennis Federation moved the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I event featuring China, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan out of Dongguan to Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan in early February but the event was later postponed after Kazakhstan declined to serve as substitute hosts.

The Chinese Davis Cup team also withdrew from a Davis Cup tie. The Chinese team were due to travel to Romania for a March 6-7 playoff but will be unable to do so due to “increased restrictions” in response to the outbreak, as a result of which Romania will advance to the World Group I as a result.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2HKbML9