Emma Raducanu’s campaign at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open, the last WTA 1000 of the season, was short-lived as the British No 1, looking visibly out of sorts in the hot and humid conditions, retired from her opening match, while Iga Swiatek, the 2nd seed, batted Marie Bouzkova aside in her opener in 79 minutes.
I’m happy I didn’t play yesterday, because I think it was too much for most of the players. On centre court, I think it’s a little bit cooler with the air-conditioning and everything, but I hope the other matches will be scheduled at a time where girls can compete, rather than just die on the court.
Iga Swiatek
Raducanu appeared sluggish from the start of her 1st-round match against America’s Ann Li, and was 6-1, 4-1 down when she decided to retire after taking a medical time-out, having looked dizzy at points during the second set.
The British No 1 is the latest player to either retire or withdraw from a tournament in recent weeks during the Asia swing, with Swiatek, a 6-time Grand Slam champion, criticising the overwhelming schedule after her 6-1 6-1 demolition of Bouzkova from Czechia.
“I feel like it’s getting hotter in different places over the years,” Swiatek said on court after her match. “I’m just trying to use my experience, recover well between the points, and just spend all my energy on having the best quality possible. But for sure it’s a challenge.”
High temperatures above 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) forced organisers to put the heat rule into effect on Monday, when play was suspended on the outside courts.
The heat rule also came into effect on Tuesday between 12.30 and 17.30, but no matches were suspended.
“I’m happy I didn’t play yesterday, because I think it was too much for most of the players,” added Swiatek. “On centre court, I think it’s a little bit cooler with the air-conditioning and everything, but I hope the other matches will be scheduled at a time where girls can compete, rather than just die on the court.”
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, received medical attention 5 games into the second set when she had her blood pressure and other vitals checked, clearly struggling with the conditions as the temperature soared.
She made the call to retire because of dizziness, sending Li into a 2nd-round meeting with 9th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia.
The heat rule allows players to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and means the tournament can partially or fully close the centre-court roof to protect players.
Raducanu had got herself off to a fast start by breaking Li in the opening game, but went on to lose the next 6 and the first set in just 28 minutes.
Li simply overpowered the World No 30 with great ball-striking, as Raducanu increasingly made unforced errors, and clearly was not fully fit.
Raducanu produced 4 double-faults at the start of the second set, bending down, signalling that she could retire, but somehow managed to hold her serve.
Li won 4 consecutive games, though, before Raducanu called for the trainer, who took her blood pressure and temperature, and then soon shook hands with Li.
“I want to wish Emma a fast recovery. It looks like she wasn’t feeling good,” Li said on court afterwards. “It was a tough match last time, so hopefully she feels better. I’m happy with my performance, I stayed pretty solid for the entire match.”
The British No 1 is still hoping to end the season strongly by remaining in the Top 32 in the rankings to ensure she is seeded at January’s Australian Open, but it is not clear whether she will now compete in the other China events later this month.
There was plenty more drama on Day 2, as former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia also retired while trailing 6-0, 2-1, sending Romania’s Sorana Cirstea into round 2.
Playing on a roofless outside court, Ostapenko also had her vitals checked, and was feeling unwell before she pulled out, citing heat illness.
Naomi Osaka, the 11th seed of Japan, in the opening match of the day, beat Canadian Leylah Fernandez, 4-6 7-5 6-3, In a tense 2 hour 30 minute contest.
The 4-time major champion claimed the win after a hard-fought battle that saw her fire 41 winners and make 56 unforced errors.
“Mentally, it was just really tough for me today,” said Osaka. “And I think it’s a part of the season that’s just tough. But I think I’m, like, really happy to have gotten through it, and I think it’ll be easier from now on.”
Osaka, who is playing in Wuhan for the first time since 2017, will take on last week’s Beijing finalist Linda Noskova in the 2nd-round on Wednesday.
The Czech battled her way past Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, 6-4 4-6 7-6(2).
Chinese wild-card Zhang Shuai, ranked 142 in the world, stunned 14th-seeded Emma Navarro, 6-2 2-6 6-3, her second upset win over the American in as many meetings, and her first Top 20 win of the season.
Zhang lost 32 out of 37 points, but still won the match, which lasted an hour and 36 minutes, despite going the distance and delivering wild oscillations in momentum throughout.
The 36-year-old Chinese swarmed the net and rattled off 5 consecutive games from 1-0 down to take a 5-1 lead, but then needed 5 set points to close out the opener.
There was little sign of the roller-coaster ahead when she broke for 2-1 in the second, courtesy of a Navarro forehand error, but the momentum swing was sudden and immediate as the American raced through 8 games in a row to go up 3-0 in the third set.
Improving her service efficiency and striking her forehand with relish, Navarro won an astonishing 32 out of 37 points in this passage of play, only for Zhang to suddenly find her form at the net again, winning 12 out of 13 points to peg the 14th seed back to 3-3.
Navarro held a 40-0 lead in the next game, but Zhang’s down-the-line winners denied her the hold with a run of 5 straight points, and, ultimately, she took 13 of the last 16 to seal a 6-game run to victory.
“In the final set when I got 0-3, all of you were giving me great energy to have a strong comeback, so thank you,” Zhang told the crowd in her on-court interview.
Zhang will face Cirstea next as she bids to return to the Wuhan 3rd-round for the first time since 2018.
Iga Swiatek simply thrashed Marie Bouzkova in the night session, with the loss of just 2 games, to book a 3rd-round clash with Belinda Bencic, the 13th seed from Switzerland, who advanced by way of a walkover from Belgian Elise Mertens.
The 24-year old Pole won 31 of 51 points and broke 6 times, breaking to race out to a 4-0 lead, and although Bouzkova pulled one break back, Swiatek earned her 3rd break in the 6th game for 5-1, and served out the first set on her 2nd set point after saving a break point herself.
She then earned 3 more breaks to close out the second set on her 2nd match point.
“There are many tournaments that you win, and the next week you lose,” said Swiatek, who has won 3 titles at Wimbledon, Cincinnati and Seoul this season, but lost early in Beijing last week. “So it is disappointing. It’s hard to be winning all the time, and be consistent. It’s not something I would expect, but I just try to focus on developing, and just working every day to play as well as possible.”
Swiatek became the first woman to win 60 matches in 4 straight years this century, hitting that number in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and adding her 60th win of 2025 in Wuhan on Tuesday.
She was asked afterwards about her tournament debut here in Wuhan.
“It’s nice to play in a city I’ve never been to,” she said. “It’s something new, and I really appreciate that because of the repetition of the tour—I’m really happy to be in Wuhan and get to know the city. I’m happy with the performance as well.”
It was a very strong performance, stats-wise, with Swiatek finishing the match with 35 winners to 23 unforced errors, and winning 8 of the 9 points she played at net.
Bouzkova kept her stats clean with 3 winners to 7 unforced errors, but Swiatek was just too powerful on the day.
Swiatek will now get a day off before tackling Bencic on Thursday, against whom she holds a 4-1 record.
Also through to round 3 is Laura Siegemund, after the German upset Mirra Andreeva, the Russian 5th seed, 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3.
37-year old Siegemund came from a set down to rally past the 18-year old to record her 3rd Top 10 win of 2025.
In other Day 1 matches, American Sofia Kenin edged Anastasia Zakharova, a Russian qualifier, 3-6 7-6(5) 6-3, to set up a 2nd-round meeting against No 16 Liudmila Samsonova from Russia, who beat Colombia’s Emiliana Arango, 6-1 7-5; while Romania’s Jacqueline Cristian was a 6-7(6) 6-0 6-3 winner over American McCartney Kessler, and will meet Elena Rybakina, the No 8 seed of Kazakhstan, next.
