In pictures: The story of Hua Hin 2020
From career-best wins for Nao Hibino and Wang Xiyu to 19-year-old Leonie Kung's stunning breakthrough final run and the surging Magda Linette's second career title, all the best pictures from the 2020 GSB Thailand Open presented by E@.
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Former World No.50 Akgul Amanmuradova won her first WTA-level match since 2015 over Junri Namigata in qualifying.
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Top qualifying seed Xun Fang-Ying also won her first match over compatriot Zhang Ying.
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However, 2018 Wimbledon junior finalist Leonie Kung upset Xun to qualify for her second career WTA main draw.
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Punnin Kovapitukted was one of two Thai 17-year-olds making their WTA qualifying debut, where she lost to fourth seed Ulrikke Eikeri.
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Meanwhile, former junior World No.14 Mananchaya Sawangkaew took the first set before falling to second seed Chihiro Muramatsu.
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Eikeri went on to qualify for the first time in her career, becoming the first Norwegian since Amy Jonsson in 1991 to compete in a WTA main draw.
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Storm Sanders, playing the sixth event of her comeback to the sport, saved four match points before defeating Moyuka Uchijima in round one of qualifying.
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Sanders' Australian compatriot Ellen Perez also came through qualifying successfully with straight-set wins over Ng Kwan-Yau and Riya Bhatia.
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Lucrezia Stefanini upset 2018 Roland Garros doubles finalist Eri Hozumi to win her first career WTA qualifying match.
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Chihiro Muramatsu battled back from 5-7, 1-4 down to defeat Stefanini in the final qualifying round 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to make her WTA main draw debut.
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Elina Svitolina travelled 27 floors up to the Vana Nava Sky Bar for a tennis match in the sky against former deputy prime minister of Thailand Suwat Liptapanlop.
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Playing on a glass floor over 110m up didn't faze Svitolina.
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Fourth seed Zheng Saisai needed to overturn a 2-5 deficit in the first set before pulling through against WTA main draw debutante Natalija Kostic 7-6(6), 6-0 in the first round.
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Qualifier Ellen Perez held three set points to take a set lead over You Xiaodi in the first round...
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...but You staved them off to overcome Perez 7-6(4), 6-2 and seal her first WTA main draw win.
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Eighth seed Nao Hibino squeezed past Arina Rodionova 7-6(5), 7-5 in a first-round nailbiter.
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Storm Sanders picked up her first WTA main draw win since Hobart 2014 in straight sets over Ulrikke Eikeri.
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Third seed Wang Qiang kicked off her campaign by dropping just two games to Chinese compatriot Han Xinyun.
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Chihiro Muramatsu came within two games of her first WTA main draw win in a first-round epic against Barbara Haas...
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However, Haas battled back to defeat Muramatsu 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 45 minutes.
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Wang Xinyu faced a first-round clash against Liang En-Shuo - with whom she had won the 2018 Australian Open girls' doubles trophy.
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Liang En-Shuo, who was also the 2018 Australian Open girls' singles champion, came through the clash of friends, dropping just three games to Wang Xinyu.
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A topsy-turvy scoreline ending in a ferociously fought climax ended with Patricia Maria Tig upsetting sixth seed Wang Yafan 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(5).
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Second seed Petra Martic faced a tough opener against 2018 US Open girls' champion Wang Xiyu.
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Former junior World No.1 Wang Xiyu delivered a stunning performance to upset Martic 6-3, 6-4 to score her first career Top 20 win.
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In the second round, seventh seed Zhu Lin found herself in trouble against 19-year-old qualifier Leonie Kung.
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Kung dismissed Zhu 6-3, 6-1 to reach her first WTA quarterfinal, having lost only 15 games in four matches in qualifying and the main draw.
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Shenzhen quarterfinalist Kateryna Bondarenko took on Magda Linette in a bid to keep her comeback from a second maternity leave going.
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Fifth seed Linette was too strong for Bondarenko, winning their first round 6-2, 6-2 to defeat the Ukrainian for the third time in as many matches.
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Top seed Elina Svitolina got her campaign under way with a 6-2, 6-4 first-round win over Bibiane Schoofs.
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Hiroshima champion Nao Hibino dismissed lucky loser Peangtarn Plipuech in 53 minutes, dropping just one game, to reach the quarterfinals.
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San Jose champion Zheng Saisai ended qualifier Liang En-Shuo's run 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
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Wang Qiang held firm to move into her second quarterfinal of the season 6-3, 6-4 over Katarzyna Kawa.
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Wang Xiyu backed up her upset of Petra Martic by defeating Barbara Haas in straight sets to reach her first WTA quarterfinal.
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Patricia Maria Tig defeated You Xiaodi for the second time in as many weeks to reach her third WTA quarterfinal since returning from maternity leave last April.
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Bronx champion Magda Linette moved past Peng Shuai into her fifth quarterfinal in the last six months.
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Top seed Elina Svitolina found her groove, dropping just three games to Storm Sanders to make her first quarterfinal of the season.
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In the quarterfinals, Patricia Maria Tig upset fourth seed Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first WTA semifinal of the year.
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Magda Linette came from a set down to end teenager Wang Xiyu's run 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and reach her second straight Hua Hin semifinal.
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Nao Hibino had won just three games from Elina Svitolina the last time they had played, but stunned the top seed 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to post the first Top 10 win of her career.
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The upsets weren't done yet on quarterfinal day: in Leonie Kung's first ever meeting with a Top 30 player, the teenager stunned Wang Qiang 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
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In the semifinals, with her return to the Top 100 guaranteed, Patricia Maria Tig was bidding to make the second final following her comeback from maternity leave.
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However, Magda Linette was too strong, overcoming Tig 7-5, 6-4 to reach her third final in the past seven months.
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Nao Hibino came into the last four buoyed by her biggest career win to date - and a 5-0 record in WTA Tour semifinals.
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Leonie Kung's week of shocks wasn't over yet as the qualifier, who had only competed in one previous WTA main draw - as a wildcard at Gstaad 2018 - battled past Hibino in three sets to reach her maiden final.
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Arina Rodionova and Storm Sanders took their first doubles title together over Barbara Haas and Ellen Perez; for Rodionova, it was a first WTA title after six previous final defeats, while Sanders lifted her second WTA trophy.
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Magda Linette got off to a sharp start in the final against Leonie Kung.
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World No.283 Leonie Kung battled hard, but her inexperience in her seventh match of the week was evident; the Swiss's breakthrough will still see her rocket to a career high of World No.156.
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Linette pulled away from Kung for a 6-3, 6-2 win to seal her second career title following her triumph as a qualifier in The Bronx last August.
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Linette, who first broke the Top 100 in April 2015 but took until August 2019 to crack the Top 50, is now rising fast: the Hua Hin title takes her to a career high of World No.33.
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