Czech and Russian win Zhuhai Open singles

The final matches were closely fought as the Zhuhai Tennis Open men's and women's singles tournament ended at Hengqin International Tennis Center on March 12.

Denisa Allertova 

Czech Denisa Allertova earned the women's singles trophy by beating Zheng Saisai of Shaanxi Province 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the final set. Top-seed Russian Evgeny Evgenyevich Donskoy took the men's title, downing defending Zhuhai Open champion Thomas Fabiano of Italy 6-3, 6-4.

Gong Maoxin and Zhang Ze, both of Nanjing, won the men's doubles by defeating South African Ruan Roelofse and Yi Chu-huan of Taipei 6-3, 7-6 in the final. Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus won the women's title, besting Ukrainian sisters Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok 6-4, 6-2.

Zheng Saisai [Photos by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Daily]

The women's division was part of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women's Circuit with a bonus of $60,000. Zheng Saisai said the lineup was strong and the games were organized just like the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Elite Trophy. She plans to play more games to earn scores that improve her ranking.

Sponsored by the Chinese Tennis Association, the annual competition is organized by Huafa Sports Operations & Management, Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and International Tennis Federation (ITF). It was initiated in 2015 as the Zhuhai ITF Women's Pro Circuit and was named Zhuhai Challenger in 2016. The new name, Zhuhai Open, is to be permanent, providing the city with its own tournament brand following Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

Running March 4 to 12, some 120 domestic and overseas tennis pros assembled in Zhuhai for 148 games. Many outstanding players glorified the high-level competition, such as Donskoy, Zheng Saisai, Hsieh Su-Wei from Taiwan, and former world top 10 Patty Schnyder.