In pictures: The story of Shenzhen 2020
From Anna Blinkova's career-best win to Kateryna Bondarenko's comeback from a second maternity leave and Ekaterina Alexandrova extending her winning streak to claim her maiden title, all the best photos from the Shenzhen Open 2020. All photos © Shenzhen Open.
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Kristyna Pliskova and Elise Mertens got the chance to practice their silk weaving skills.
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Kristyna Pliskova focused as hard at the loom as on court.
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Top seed Belinda Bencic arrives at the players' party.
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Garbiñe Muguruza, Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic had fun cutting paper decorations at the players' party.
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Jasmine Paolini defeated Martina Trevisan in an all-Italian qualifying derby.
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Former World No.28 Monica Niculescu fell to Nicole Gibbs in qualifying.
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Irina-Camelia Begu celebrates coming through qualifying with wins over Stefanie Voegele and Barbora Krejcikova.
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Former World No.29 Kateryna Bondarenko scored the first WTA win of her comeback from a second maternity leave, four events into her return, over Misaki Doi.
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18-year-old wildcard Wang Xiyu dominated the last two sets with impressive firepower in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 first-round upset of Sorana Cirstea.
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Although Lesia Tsurenko lost her first match back after a five-month injury hiatus, the Ukrainian posted that she was "happy to be back on court".
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Third seed Elise Mertens, making her tournament debut, dispatched Tsurenko 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.
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2017 champion and 2018 runner-up Katerina Siniakova has often excelled in Shenzhen, but fell in the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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Alexandrova continued her strong form from winning the Limoges 125K at the end of 2019 to oust Siniakova 6-4, 6-4.
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A topsy-turvy first round saw Wang Yafan thrill the home crowd with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Sara Sorribes Tormo.
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Zhang Shuai was another home winner in the first round, defeating Magda Linette 6-4, 6-2 in a display of clean hitting.
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Limoges 125K finalist Aliaksandra Sasnovich also carried over her good form to beat qualifier Anna-Lena Friedsam in the first round.
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2014 runner-up Peng Shuai triumphed in an all-Chinese derby in the first round over Zhu Lin.
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For the second year running, 18-year-old wildcard Wang Xinyu took a set lead over a major winner in the first round, going 6-3 up on Garbiñe Muguruza.
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Former World No.1 Muguruza finished strongly against Wang, ending the teenager's hopes 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
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Fourth seed Wang Qiang was in impeccable form in round one, dropping just three games to Ons Jabeur.
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Shelby Rogers got embroiled in a gruelling three-setter against compatriot Nicole Gibbs in the first round, featuring frustration...
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...but ultimately smiles as Rogers came through 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 after two hours and 33 minutes over Gibbs.
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Margarita Gasparyan and her rare one-handed backhand came through qualifying successfully, but were stopped by Aryna Sabalenka in round one.
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Defending champion Sabalenka got off to a fine start, losing only three games to Gasparyan.
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Anna Blinkova captured her maiden Top 10 win in the biggest first-round upset, ousting No.1 seed Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
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Rising Kazakh Elena Rybakina's smooth hitting was in fine form during her second-round defeat of Wang Yafan.
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Hot on the heels of Bencic's loss, Kristyna Pliskova eliminated No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4.
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Sabalenka battled hard, but nonetheless suffered her first ever loss as a defending champion to Pliskova.
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There were no such problems for Elise Mertens, now the highest remaining seed, who navigated past the dangerous Wang Xiyu 6-4, 6-3.
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World No.1168 Kateryna Bondarenko's comeback gathered momentum with an upset of No.8 seed Zhang Shuai to reach her first WTA quarterfinal since Tashkent 2017.
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Garbiñe Muguruza continued to regain form, winning consecutive matches for the first time since Roland Garros with a second-round defeat of Shelby Rogers.
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Wang Qiang overcame a 1-4 final-set deficit to battle past Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(5) in the second round.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova saved two set points in the first set before pulling away over Peng Shuai 7-6(7), 6-1 to make the quarterfinals.
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One round after her career-best win, Anna Blinkova found herself in an epic three-setter against Zarina Diyas.
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Despite missing two match points in the second set, Diyas ultimately squeezed past Blinkova 6-1, 6-7(9), 6-4 after two hours and 45 minutes.
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Kristyna Pliskova posted a second 6-4, 6-4 scoreline in a row to defeat Kateryna Bondarenko in the quarterfinals.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova extended her winning streak to eight with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal win over Wang Qiang.
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Garbiñe Muguruza's new partnership with Conchita Martínez continued to pay dividends as she booked her first semifinal berth since Monterrey last April over Zarina Diyas.
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20-year-old Elena Rybakina was delighted to collect her third career Top 20 win with a three-set quarterfinal upset of Elise Mertens.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova showed no sign of letting up in her straight-sets semifinal defeat of Garbiñe Muguruza to reach her second career final.
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Elena Rybakina fired nine aces en route to a straight-sets semifinal win over Kristyna Pliskova to make her third career final - all in the last seven months.
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Ekaterina Alexandrova prevailed in the final, 6-2, 6-4, to become the WTA's first champion of 2020.
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