WTA Ningbo: Wang Xiyu squandered a strong start to lose to Schneider, Zhang Shuai and partner narrowly missed match point in doubles defeat

On October 13, 2025, the WTA500 Ningbo tournament began, with Wang Xinyu and Andreyeva present at the opening ceremony. In the opening round of the women's singles, Chinese player Wang Xiyu, who started the match, lost her leads of 3-0 in the first set and 3-1 in the second, ultimately falling 5-7, 3-6 to 7th seed Schneider after a grueling 1 hour 51 minutes, failing to reach round two.

Wang Xiyu profile photo

Notably, the match was interrupted for nearly an hour due to heavy rain in Ningbo when Wang Xiyu was trailing 5-6 in the first set. The newly installed roof on the center court was used for the first time on the opening day of the main draw. This was Wang Xiyu’s first loss to this opponent; after exiting in the first round, her world ranking dropped to No.159. Schneider will await the winner between Muchova and Vondrousova.

In other first-day women's singles matches, Kessler dominated former Australian Open champion Kenin 6-1, 6-0, while 6th seed Bencic comfortably defeated Linette 6-3, 6-2, both advancing smoothly to round two. Among two first-round matches between qualifiers, Starodubtseva beat Putintseva 6-4, 6-2, and Semenz staged a comeback to win 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 against Sasnovich.

In women's doubles, Zhang Shuai and Vondrousova lost narrowly after leading 9-5 in the match tiebreak, dropping six consecutive points to fall 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 to Tang Qianhui and Eikeri, missing out on victory. In other doubles matches, L. Kichenok and Perez overturned the 2nd seeds Stosur and Muhammad 2-6, 6-1, 10-4, while 4th seeds Babos and Stefani won convincingly 6-2, 6-2 over Mboko and Joint.

October 14th schedule

(Text and editing: Dato; Photos: Visual China)