Big names continue to fall at Wuhan Open as Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki crash out

Johanna Konta was dumped out of the tournament on Monday

(Getty)

If it is of any consolation to Johanna Konta following her swift exit from the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, the 26-year-old Briton is at least in good company.

Following the early defeats of Konta, Petra Kvitova, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys, three more top names went out of the tournament here on Tuesday. Simona Halep was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Daria Kasatkina, Caroline Wozniacki went down 7-5, 6-3 to Maria Sakkari and Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 6-3 to Alize Cornet.

If Wozniacki’s defeat was no great surprise given her exertions in winning the title in Tokyo last week, both Kuznetsova and Halep would surely have hoped for better. Kuznetsova is chasing ranking points to make the field for the year-end WTA Finals in Singapore, while Halep is hoping to get her season back on track following her first-round defeat to Maria Sharapova at the US Open.

Halep has not played since Flushing Meadows and her lack of match tightness showed. On another hot and sticky day when the heat rule came into effect before third sets, allowing the players to take a 10-minute break, the world No 2 never got into her stride, while Kasatkina was on her game from the start.

“She played really well today and everything went right for her, but it also wasn’t my best day,” Halep said afterwards. “It’s tough. I haven’t played for a month and it’s tough to come back and play matches.”

The Romanian added: “It’s tough to get into the rhythm of a match in just a few games. Maybe it was a mistake not to play, but I needed rest after the US season. I take it like it is. No drama.”

At least Halep knows that her place in next month’s WTA Finals is secure. The field in Singapore comprises the eight players who have earned the most ranking points in 2017 and the WTA announced that Halep is one of five who have now guaranteed their places in the line-up.

Wozniacki lost 7-5, 6-3 to Maria Sakkari (Getty)

Garbine Muguruza, who beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 6-4 in her opening match here, had already secured her place, while the early defeats of so many other top players this week has meant that Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina and Venus Williams have also qualified.

Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and Konta currently occupy the three other places, with Kristina Mladenovic, Kuznetsova, Coco Vandeweghe and Stephens best placed to mount a late challenge.

Kuznetsova could have climbed above Konta by winning the title here, but the defeat to Cornet leaves the Russian with plenty of work to do. Much is likely to be decided by next week’s China Open in Beijing, though there are two weeks more of competition after that.

Ostapenko moved into one of the qualifying places with her victory in last week’s Seoul Open and recovered quickly to come out on top after a gruelling encounter here with Barbora Strycova, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 to earn a third-round meeting with Monica Puig. Pliskova also showed battling qualities to hold off China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.