Venus Williams leads an action-packed day one at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open, which also features local hope Adithya Karunaratne, at the Victoria Park Tennis Centre.
Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Williams, 46, opens the evening session on Centre Court on Monday against fellow American Mary Stoiana, 23, winner of three ITF titles.
“I don’t know much about Mary yet, so I’m definitely going to be finding out as much as I can before the match,” said Williams.
“I will go into this week with the same approach as always in my training and discipline for each match ... All of the other players are playing very well now, so I have to be ready for that.”
Karunaratne will follow Williams on court to take on Chinese sixth seed Wang Xinyu. A wild card entry, the 24-year-old has captured five ITF titles so far and multiple Under-18 ITF junior circuit titles.
Wang has reached the last 16 in three of the four Grand Slams, and has been ranked as high as number 30 in the world.
Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari and four-time WTA Tour champion Katie Boulter of Britain will also be in action on Monday.
Boulter takes on Swiss Viktorija Golubic in the tournament’s opening match at 2pm.
Sakkari plays lucky loser Carol Young Suh Lee.
Filipina trailblazer Alexandra Eala, seeded second, will begin her campaign on Tuesday.
"I’m super excited to be back here. I have very fond memories here in Hong Kong,” said the popular 21-year-old.
“Playing here last year was amazing – the crowd, hospitality. So, I couldn’t be happier to be back.
“I’m super proud of this whole year, even the past couple of weeks, how I’ve been working, how I’ve been training."
Eala added that she is coming into her final tournament of the season “with no regrets.”
“I think I’ve done everything that I could have possibly done. I’m super happy with whatever happens,” she said.
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