Guo Hanyu Makes WTA Finals Debut

After securing her place in the WTA Finals doubles field during the Wuhan Open, Guo Hanyu said qualifying for the season-ending championships for the first time was an unexpected surprise. Her focus, however, remains on improving every day.

At last week’s Wuhan Open, Guo was the only Chinese player to reach the women’s singles round of 16, where she lost to Elina Svitolina and missed out on the quarter-finals. In doubles, she partnered Kristina Mladenovic to reach the last eight, before falling to defending champions Kateřina Siniaková and Storm Hunter in the quarter-finals.

Despite those setbacks, Guo received several pieces of good news during the tournament. She secured a place in qualifying for next year’s Australian Open singles draw and booked her spot in the WTA Finals doubles field. The points earned in Wuhan lifted Guo and Mladenovic to the top seven of the doubles Race standings, with 3,686 points, securing direct qualification without relying on a Grand Slam champions’ wildcard.

Guo said the qualification had brought “quite a few unexpected surprises”. But she is back in action at this week’s Ningbo Open. After a comfortable win in the first round of doubles, she is due to face Ekaterina Alexandrova in singles tonight.

Although her place in the WTA Finals is now confirmed, Guo stressed that simply getting through the remaining tournaments of the year was not enough.

“The goal is still to focus on how we can improve every day, play more and better matches, and take something away from every match or training session. That’s how we can maintain a positive mindset every day.”