Twelve months ago Katerina Siniakova was unseeded in doubles at the Shenzhen Open and at the same time Barbora Krejcikova was still gradually making her way on the Tour. At the 2018 US$750,000 Shenzhen Open to be staged at the Shenzhen Longgang Sports Center, December 30, 2017 to January 6, 2018, the Czech pair has shown how far they have come as they will go in as the top seeds.
The two of the them teamed up to reach the semis in Moscow but through the season enjoyed plenty of success with a number of different partners. Siniakova made the final of the US Open as well as finals at Prague, Charleston, Indian Wells and Taipei City. She was also a semi-finalist at the French Open and reached the doubles quarters in Rome, Madrid, Bogota and at the Shenzhen Open.
Krejcikova meanwhile was a doubles finalist at Bastad, a semi-finalist at Rabat, a
quarterfinalist at Quebec City and Rome and made the fourth round at the US Open and
French Open.
While they will be the top seeds, tennis fans at the Shenzhen Open will also have the
opportunity to see the singles WTA World No.1, Simona Halep in action on the doubles court. It will be the second consecutive year she is playing doubles in Shenzhen.
The Romanian, who rarely plays doubles, will team up with her countrywoman Irina-Camelia Begu. They teamed up at Madrid in 2017 and made the semis. Begu won titles with other partners in Tianjin and Bucharest and the quarters in Seoul, Cincinnati, the French Open, St. Petersburg and Brisbane.
However, the team that will occupy the second seeding Olga Savchuk and Raluca Olaru
could be the ones to beat. They have the most experience as a tandem having played 15
events together in 2017.
They won Hobart and were finalists the week before at the Shenzhen Open. Together they
made the quarters at the French Open, Strasbourg, Biel Tokyo and New Haven. Savchuk also made the final in Doha.
In the doubles, China will be represented by Liang Chen and Han Xinyun who are the
nation’s highest ranked team in the main draw. Joining them with doubles wildcards are
Zhang Shuai and Kang Jia Qi and Guo Han Yu and Wang Xin Yu.
The doubles draw plays host to ten different nations with China having the most players,
seven, followed by Romania with five.
It has been a prosperous month for 16 year old Wang Xin Yu who also received a qualifying singles wildcard. Recently she won the Asian Wildcard Play-off for the Australian Open. Joining her with a qualifying singles wildcard is Zhang Yu Yuan.
Main draw singles wildcards have been awarded to Wang Ya Fan, ranked 173, 16-year-old
Wang Xi Yu, ranked 584, and Liu Fang Zhou, ranked 148.
Read more: Shining in Shenzhen: Radwanska, Halep and all the champions
Halep, Sharapova and Ostapenko lead the field in Shenzhen
