The Week in Preview: Wuhan, Kuala Lumpur, Shenzhen

Leave tennis for a week, and chances are you’ll come back to discover that nothing is quite the same. The last time I wrote a post here, on Thursday, September 11, the sport was trying to recover from its U.S. Open hangover in New York by perusing that weekend’s Davis Cup draws in Europe. This morning, both tours are on a third continent, Asia, and one of them, the WTA, is already charging hard down the 2014 homestretch. In the short time I was away, Li Na has stopped playing tennis, Nicole Vaidisova has started again, and Ana Ivanovic has won a tournament and retired from another. Time to get back on the tennis train with a preview of what else might happen in the week ahead.

Wuhan, China
$2,440,070; Premier 5
DecorTurf II
Draw is here

The Grand Slam season is over, but don’t tell the women that. The WTA has put together a major-esque draw is Wuhan, without even making the tournament mandatory—that happens next week in Beijing. The new event attracted nine of the tour’s Top 10; the only missing member, ironically, was Wuhan native Li Na, who won’t be playing any tournaments at all from now on.

The money is good here, and with the tour shutting down next month, there aren’t many more places left to make it in 2014. For those trying to qualify for the year-end championships in Singapore—which at the moment includes everyone except Serena Williams, Simona Halep, and Maria Sharapova—there aren’t many more chances to get ahead in the race.

Like last week in Tokyo, though, it hasn’t taken long for those Top 10 seeds to start dropping. Today No. 9 Ivanovic, who won her fourth tournament of the year on Sunday, had to retire with a left thigh injury against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska continued a disappointing stretch by losing her opener to Caroline Garcia. But not everyone has fallen to the upset bug: Sharapova, as she tends to do, fought it off against Svetlana Kuznetsova to win in three.

Looking forward, Serena—yes, Serena is here—has been handed an intriguing opening opponent in Alizé Cornet, the Frenchwoman who has beaten her twice this year. Also in Serena’s half are Genie Bouchard, who is currently holding the No. 7 spot in the race to Singapore; Sharapova, who is still looking for consistent form on hard courts; Ekaterina Makarova, U.S. Open semifinalist; and Caroline Wozniacki, a finalist this past week in Tokyo. As of now, Caro is in the eighth and final place in the race. Two players ahead of her are the aforementioned Wuhan departees, Radwanska and Ivanovic.

It’s only Monday, but the bottom half of this draw has already reached the “wide open” phase. The third seed on this side was Radwanska, and the top seed is Halep, who hasn’t been past the quarters since winning her home event in Romania in July. Halep could also have to start against Garbine Muguruza. If she were to lose early, that would leave Petra Kvitova as the favorite to reach the final.

Expect, as they say, the unexpected.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
$910,520; 250 points
Hard court
Draw is here

Along the road to Asia, the men give themselves a speed bump by scheduling Davis Cup immediately after the U.S. Open. That means they’re a week behind the women: Instead of a star-studded Premier event, the ATP offers a pair of minor 250-level tournaments. It isn’t until next Monday in Beijing and Tokyo that the big ATP names come out to play.

For now, Kuala Lumpur will have to settle for two names that have gotten a good deal bigger in 2014. The top seed is Kei Nishikori, last seen reaching the U.S. Open final and raising his ranking to No. 8. Knish is also No. 6 in the race for the eight-man, season-ending event in London, but just 500 points separate him from No. 11 Andy Murray.

A little outside of that top group is Ernests Gulbis, who sits in 13th place, and is the second seed in Kuala Lumpur. This would seem to be a logical moment, now that the majors are over and the expectations he generated in Paris have passed, for a second Gulbissian surge in 2014.

Also here:

Nick Kyrgios: The eighth seed says he’s “burned out,” and will make this his last tournament of 2014.

Julien Benneteau: The No. 4 seed has never won a tournament, but he has reached the final in Kuala Lumpur the last two years. Could a third time be the charm?

Shenzhen, China
$590,230; 250 points
Hard courts
Draw is here

The identity of the top seed in Shenzhen, David Ferrer, is not a surprise. The Little Beast has a history of battling all the way through the fall, to the point where even he can start to look a bit weary by season's end.

The identity of the second seed, Andy Murray, may come as a surprise. Murray hasn’t entered a 250 at this time of year since he won in Bangkok in 2011. But the world No. 11 needs points if he’s going to qualify for his "home" event in London—hopefully for him, it will feel like home again by the time the tournament takes place in November. Murray is also still searching, a year after back surgery, for his best tennis. He hasn’t reached a final in 2014.

Also here: Viktor Troicki. The Serb has won two Challenger events in the last month, is back in the Top 200, and qualified for this tournament. If he wins his opener against Martin Klizan, he’ll face Ferrer.