Seven player withdrawals turns Ningbo Open into WTA 500 with more lucky losers than qualifiers

The Ningbo Open is a WTA 500 event with a 28-player draw.

By Wednesday, 25% of the field was represented by lucky losers, surpassing the six qualifiers that had earlier made their way through.

The likes of Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro had previously pulled out of the tournament, before home favorite Zheng Qinwen became the seventh competitor to withdraw following her semifinal and runner-up showings at Beijing and Wuhan.

Jaqueline Cristian, who had lost in the opening round of qualifying to Liechtenstein’s Kathinka Von Deichmann, moved into Zheng’s second-round slot to face Karolina Muchova.

Having fallen in the final stage of qualifying herself, Von Deichmann was later involved with two first-round matchups between lucky losers. She ultimately saw her second-chance hopes dashed by Ella Seidel of Germany.

The chaotic turn of events took an even wilder turn when Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva revealed on her X account that she was attempting to fly back as the No. 7 lucky loser in line. With Cristian moving into the main draw, it appears Starodubtseva missed the boat.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova is the highest seed left in the draw at No. 4. Fifth seed Daria Kasatkina rallied past the Czech’s former doubles Katerina Siniakova, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to set a quarterfinal clash with Yulia Putintseva.