Dates: 1 - 7 August 2016
Venue: Nanchang, China
Tier: International
Prize Money: $226,750
Surface: Hard/Outdoors
Tournament Director: Adam Yun Chuan

Official website: www.jxopen.net


First Appearance

Singles:
1R: [WC] Lu Jia-Jing CHN bt Daniela Hantuchova 5-7 6-4 7-5

We'll see how Daniela does here. The field gives Daniela a decent chance of going on a run as she can beat anyone there but she's also lost to some of the other players in the draw and she's only had one main draw win in the past year. Hopefully Daniela's rested and refreshed and she can come here and play some good tennis. It's a good opportunity for her to do well.

Daniela's not playing tomorrow.

Any stream guys?

Daniela lost 7-5 4-6 5-7

Daniela was 5-0 up first set and 3-0 up 3rd set.

I really think the time has come for Daniela to enjoy the next phase of her life...this can't be enjoyable for her.

This is such a kick in the gut. It's just so difficult to see where Daniela goes from here as Lu really isn't very good but Daniela still lost to her. She had two set points on her serve at 5-1 up in the first set and if she'd converted then I'm sure she'd have won easily but she couldn't put Lu away and she got into the match. Daniela also had a break point when Lu served for the second set at 5-4, she had two GPs when she was serving at 3-1 up in the third but got broken and she was 0-40 and had another BP in Lu's next service game so she really should have been 5-1 in the third but instead she was tied 3-3. It did seem that Daniela just got tired in the end but she had some many chances that she didn't take. This isn't quite as bad as the loss to Nara in Kuala Lumpur as Daniela didn't have MPs but it's close as Lu isn't nearly as good as Nara and Daniela really should have won this match. I just wonder how much longer Daniela can keep going.

In her first match at a WTA event, Lu looked hopelessly out of her depth for the first 20 minutes, Hantuchova taking full advantage to rattle off five unanswered games. But as the match wore on, Lu found some rhythm and slowly began the task of turning the match around.

While it was too late to salvage the first set, Lu held her nerve to prevail in a tense conclusion to the second. With the extreme heat and humidity beginning to take its toll on both players, the decider was as much about fitness as finesse.

Ultimately it was Lu that held herself together best, breaking in Hantuchova's final two service games to close out a famous 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 victory.

"This win means a lot to me. It's great to have this opportunity to play such a top player as Hantuchova," Lu said. "This gives me confidence that I'm in the right path. I will focus on next match and make according plan for next opponent with my coach."

Meanwhile, it is back to the drawing board for Hantuchova, who has slipped to No.254 after winning just one of her 10 main draw matches in 2016.

"My backhand is not working as I would like it to. Normally I would say it's the better shot - just too many easy mistakes on that side today," Hantuchova said. "The balls do fly here quite a lot - it's not easy to control it - but I did not go for my shots as much as I should have.

"I don't know what's next. First I'm going home. I have asked for some wildcards in the United States. We will see as it's not up to me."




Jiangxi OpenVerified account ‏@JiangxiOpen 7h7 hours ago
"It was great experience and I was honored to be here. Hopefully I will be back next year" @dhantuchova said.