The women’s tennis world number two Iga Swiatek (Poland) supported the re-introduction of WTA Asia’s performance-based allocation scheme, saying it allows players who have reached the semi-finals of a tournament to rest and to prepare for the next one.
According to the rule, Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova began their participation at the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing directly from the second round after playing in the semi-finals at the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis in Tokyo last week.
This usually applies to the top-seeded tennis players, but the performance rule meant Iga Swiatek, who crashed out in the quarter-finals in Tokyo, started from the first round in Beijing.
World number one and world number three Cori Coco Gauff also started in the first round, having not played since the US Open.
“I haven’t looked into the rule too much because these are still the first tournaments I’m playing and it’s possible that it might be implemented. But it’s something that’s been implemented on tour for a long time. I think it’s smart because usually when I’m I’ve had tournaments where I play until the end, I know what it’s like to rush to the next competition and not have time to rest and prepare. So I think the rule is OK and makes sense”, commented Iga Swiatek.
However, Aryna Sabalenka was not too happy with the rule, which has been applied several times since 2009, saying it was not acceptable to lower-ranked competitors due to success in weaker tournaments instead of being applied to those who had won points for the ranking of the top tournaments.
Elena Rybakina pulled out of the Tokyo tournament last week, citing fitness reasons, days after she blasted UTA for introducing the rule.
