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Karolina Pliskova beat Petra Martic 6-3 6-2 to win the Zhengzhou Open in Zhengzhou, China

Nao Hibino beat Misaki Doi 6-3 6-2 to win the Hana-cup Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima, Japan

Rebecca Peterson beat Elena Rybakina 6-2 6-0 to win the Jiangxi Open in Nanchang, China

Jozef Kovalik beat Guido Andreozzi 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-4 to win the Pekao Szczecin Open in Szczecin, Poland

DAVIS CUP

First Round

Group I

Americas Zone: Brazil beat Barbados 3-1 at Criciuma, Brazil; Ecuador beat Venezuela 4-0 at Miami, Florida, USA; Uruguay beat Dominican Republic 3-1 at Montevideo, Uruguay

Asia/Oceania Zone: Uzbekistan beat Lebanon 3-2 at Jounieh, Lebanon; Korea beat China 3-1 at Guiyang, China

Europe/Africa Zone: Czech Republic beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-2 at Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sweden beat Israel 3-1 at Stockholm, Sweden; Austria beat Finland 3-2 at Espoo, Finland; Hungary vs. Ukraine at Budapest, Hungary, suspended, rain at 2-2; Slovakia beat Switzerland 3-1 at Bratislava, Slovakia; Belarus beat Portugal 3-2 at Minsk, Belarus

Group II

Americas Zone: Mexico beat Paraguay 4-1 at Asuncion, Paraguay; Bolivia beat Guatemala 3-2 and Guatemala, Guatemala

Asia/Oceania Zone: New Zealand beat Indonesia 3-1 at Jakarta, Indonesia; Chinese Taipei beat Hong Kong 4-0 at Hong Kong

Europe/Africa Zone: South Africa beat Bulgaria 4-1 at Cape Town, South Africa; Turkey beat Denmark 3-2 at Risskov, Denmark; Slovenia beat Egypt 3-1 at Cairo, Egypt; Norway beat Georgia 3-1 at Oslo, Norway

SAYING

“The timing was right because I felt like it fitted in with my family life.” – Kim Clijsters, announcing she was ending her second retirement and returning to the WTA Tour.

“I already know what I am going to do (with the winnings). I spoke to my mother about getting a dog if I make the Top 100, so we are buying a dog. My sister already has a name picked out: ‘Terrine.’” – Nao Hibino, after winning in Hiroshima

“I would be happier had I won, but I was able to play in the final having persevered in a difficult first round match and the heat all week.” – Misaki Doi, who lost to Nao Hibino in the Hiroshima final.

“Of course, to get the trophy it’s always special, so it doesn’t matter really which week or how big the tournament is, it’s always good.” – Kristina Pliskova, after winning an inaugural Premier event, the Zhengzhou Open.

“Shenzhen is a very special place for me. It’s where I started my season by winning the singles title, and now I’m looking forward to ending my season there – and hopefully with another trophy.” – Aryna Sabalenka, who with doubles partner Elise Mertens qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals to be played in Shenzhen, China.

“Every tournament, every week, you start from zero.” – Kristina Pliskova.

SURPRISE RETURN

Seven years after she retired for a second time, Kim Clijsters is returning to the WTA Tour. As a player. “I’m 36 years old, I know in four years I’m not going to be able to do this challenge,” Clijsters said in announcing her comeback. “I’ve always followed my instincts. I was very young when I retired to have my first daughter and came back. To do it now is a challenge for me. I’m not afraid of it. I want to see how far I can push myself and what level I can get to – and embrace all the positives and negatives along the way.” Clijsters was 16 when she reached the fourth round in her Wimbledon debut. Four years later, she was ranked number one in the world in both singles and doubles. She won the US Open in 2005 and retired two years later at the age of 23. Following the birth of her daughter in 2008, Clijsters returned to tennis and won the 2009 US Open. She added two more major titles before retiring again in 2012. She and her husband, Brian Lynch, had two more children: Jack in 2013 and Blake in 2016. Two years ago, Clijsters was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In announcing her second comeback, Clijsters said that tennis-playing mothers Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka had inspired her.

SHE’S BACK, TOO

Tatiana Golovin of France is ending her 11-year retirement to play on the WTA Tour again. The French woman announced her return the day after Clijsters’ announcement. “The idea has been taking shape for a year, and since this summer I’ve been really serious about it,” Golovin told French television channel BeIN Sports, where she works as a commentator. “The goal was to be ready early next year, but things are going fast and now I plan to resume perhaps by mid-October.” Born in Russia, Golovin won the 2004 French Open mixed doubles with Richard Gasquet. Now 31, Golovin retired at the age of 20 because of lower back inflammation. She won both of two WTA titles in 2007 and was ranked as high as 12^th in the world.

SUCCESS IN THE RAIN

Karolina Pliskova overcame rain, an early deficit and Petra Martic to capture the Zhengzhou Open in straight sets. Rain delayed the title match for nearly six hours, then caused play to be stopped twice during the contest. After losing the opening two games, the victorious Czech won 12 of the next 15 games. “I think I played good matches,” Pliskova said of her week. “Of course, not all of the matches were perfect. The week never can be really perfect because it’s so many days and so many things can be just different every day.” Pliskova had lost to Martic in four of their previous five meetings. The first rain delay, midway through the third game, changed the momentum. When play resumed, Martic failed to convert a point for the double break and Pliskova found her game. “The break, which we had when it was 2-0, I think it helped me just to stay calm,” the winner said. It was Pliskova’s tour-leading fourth title of the year.

SINO CLASH

When Nao Hibino beat Misaki Doi to win the Hana-cupid Japan Women’s Open, it was the first time in 22 years that two Japanese players had fought for a WTA title. Hibino and Doi weren’t through, however. They then teamed to win doubles in Hiroshima, stopping Christina McHale and Valeria Savinykh in a match tiebreak. In the singles battle, Hibino won 11 of the last 13 games to grab the title. “I was so nervous today, so much more than the semifinals,” Hibino said. “But because I experienced being nervous in the semifinals, I knew what to expect. I was able to stay positive during the match today.” Doi racked up 14 unforced errors in the first set to just eight winners, and was broken in six consecutive service games to fall behind 6-3 4-0. The left-handed Doi won consecutive games, but Hibino captured a title for the first time since the Tashkent Open in 2015. The last time two Japanese women fought for a WTA title was in 1997 when Naoko Sawamatsu defeated Yuka Yoshida in Jakarta, Indonesia.

STORMS TO TITLE

Playing almost a perfect match, Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson won her first WTA title at the Jiangxi Open by crushing Elena Rybakina in exactly one hour. Peterson finished with 13 winners to just one unforced error. Rybakina, on the other hand, had just three winners to 11 unforced errors. The winner never faced a break point in the match as Rybakina’s powerful ground strokes repeatedly missed the mark, sailing long or wide or into the net. From 3-2 up in the first set, Peterson would win the next nine games, breaking Rybakina four more times. The loser would never reach a single game point and extended Peterson to deuce only once.

SITUATION NOT NORMAL

Political protests in Hong Kong have forced the Hong Kong Open women’s tennis tournament to be postponed indefinitely. The event was scheduled to be held October 5-13 on outdoor hard courts at Victoria Park. “After extensive discussions with our key stakeholders, we conclude that a smooth running of the tournament can be better assured at a later date,” organizers said. Tournament officials said the event would be returned to the schedule, but did not give a new date. Two weeks after the Honk Kong Open was originally scheduled to be played, the Elite Trophy and WTA Finals are to be held. Shortly after that the Fed Cup final between France and Australia will be played.

SIGNED AND DELIVERED

All Top 10 players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have signed up to play in the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia in January. The ATP said the top 18-ranked countries and Australia, as the host country wild card, will be among the qualifiers for the new event which will be held in three Australian cities – Brisbane, Perth and Sydney – January 3-12. The ATP said the top two players for each of the 18 countries have committed to play. Three additional players and five additional countries will also qualify to compete in the 24-country tournament. Group stages of the ATP Cup will be played in the three cities over six days. Eight countries will then play the ATP Cup Final Eight in Sydney. Each match will consist of two singles and one doubles.

STREAK GONE IN WIN

Dominic Thiem’s nine-match Davis Cup winning streak was broken, but Austria pulled out a 3-2 Group I victory over Finland when Dennis Novak beat Harri Heliovaara for the decisive fifth point. The fifth-ranked Thiem was upset in the reverse singles by Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-2. Ruusuvuori, who is ranked 163^rd in the world, also won his opening singles match against Austria’s Sebastian Ofner, but, teamed with Henri Kontinen, lost the doubles to Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer.

SELECTS OLD COACH

Simona Halep and coach Darren Cahill are back together again. With Cahill in her camp, Halep won Roland Garros in 2018 and twice finished number one in the world in the WTA year-end rankings. She also was runner-up at three majors. Cahill took a 12-month break in November 2018, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Without him, Halep won Wimbledon in July. But her ranking has dropped to sixth in the world after she lost in the second round of the US Open.

SACKS COACH

A two-time Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka is searching for her third coach. She fired Jermaine Jenkins after a disappointing US Open finish. “I’m super grateful for the time we spent together and the things I learned on and off the court, but I feel like now is an appropriate time for change,” the 21-year-old Japanese star wrote on Twitter. Before replacing Sascha Bajin as Osaka’s coach, Jenkins was a long-time hitting partner of Venus Williams.

SPLITS WITH COACH

Borna Coric of Croatia said he split with his coach, Riccardo Piatti, when the Italian starting working with two other players, including Maria Sharapova. “That was one of the main reasons,” Coric told the Croatian media. “He is following several projects and he could not fully focus on me,” Coric is also coached by Antonio Veic. He had been working with Piatti since December5 2017.

STAYING HOME

South African Kevin Anderson is taking off the rest of the 2019 season to recover from a right knee injury. The big-serving Anderson has not played since losing in the third round of Wimbledon in July. “I have spoken with my team, consulted with doctors, and we have decided that the best course of action is to take the rest of the year off and prepare for 2020,” said the 33-year-old Anderson, who was runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the US Open in 2017 and to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2018.

SHANGHAI BOUND

Former world number one Andy Murray received a wildcard entry into the Shanghai Masters in October. Three times a champion in China’s largest city, this will be Murray’s first time back at the Shanghai event since 2016. “I’m really looking forward to be going back to Shanghai, a tournament I have had success at in the past,” Murray said. Currently ranked 415^th in the world, Murray has confirmed his entry for two other tournaments in China, Zhuhai and Beijing.

STOPPING IN SHENZHEN

Australian Ashleigh Barty and the doubles team of Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka are the first to qualify for the season-ending Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen at the end of October. Barty is the first of eight singles players who will compete in the elite field. “It’s been a goal from the very start of the year to qualify for the WTA Finals in Shenzhen,” Barty said. “I’m proud of the work my team and I have put in to get to this point, and I’m honored to be among the top eight players of the season.” Barty won the Miami Open and her first Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros. She reached the world number one ranking after Roland Garros, then returned to the top spot following the US Open. She was the only woman to reach the second week at all of the majors this season and will be the first Australian to play in the WTA Finals since Samantha Stosur in 2011.

Mertens and Sabalenka won their first Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open. Earlier in the year the Belgian-Belarusian pair won the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, and the Miami Open, the first team to achieve the feat since Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in 2015. The top eight doubles teams also will compete in a round-robin format with the singles winner capturing the Billie Jean King Trophy and the doubles champions taking the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy

SKIPPING TOURNAMENTS

US Open champion Bianca Andreescu won’t be playing WTA tournaments in Osaka, Japan, and Wuhan, China, this year. But her schedule still her playing in Beijing and the WTA Finals in Shenzhen – the latter if she qualifies for the elite eight-player field. The Canadian is currently in fourth place and is 800 points in front of Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, who is in the eighth spot. Bencic, who lost to Andreescu in the US Open semifinals, has also withdrawn from Osaka.

STILL SET FOR CHINA

Apologizing to his fans for keeping them “in the dark” about his shoulder injury, Novak Djokovic said he is still planning on playing the Asian hard-court swing. “I’m having a wonderful time with my family and actively working on my recovery so I can be ready for the Asian swing,” Djokovic said on Twitter. “My health is always top priority and as soon as I’m ready, I’ll be back.” The Serb, who withdrew from his US Open fourth-round match against Stan Wawrinka, made no mention of surgery in his Twitter posting.

STEPPING DOWN

Richard Lewis will step down as chief executive of Wimbledon after next year’s grass-court Grand Slam tournament at the All England Club. Lewis became CEO in 2012. His departure coincides with Philip Brook stepping down as Wimbledon chairman, a position that will be taken by Ian Hewitt.

STANDING TALL

Auburn University paid tribute to tennis player Andreas Mies during the school’s football game against Tulane. Mies, who played at the Auburn, Alabama, USA, school, has had a breakthrough season on the ATP Tour alongside fellow German Kevin Krawietz. The two won the New York Open doubles, then repeated with their first Grand Slam tournament title at Roland Garros. The Germans reached the semifinals at the US Open before losing. “It just means a lot to me,” Mies said of the Auburn University celebration. “They showed our (US Open) semifinal match here on the big screen at Jordan-Hare (Stadium) and it’s just unbelievable,” Mies told Auburn Athletics. “It’s something you dream of as a kid playing in these big tournaments and to get recognized like this at the football game is incredible.”

SUSPENDED FOR LIFE

Diego Matos of Brazil has been banned from professional tennis for life after being found guilty of match-fixing. The 31-year-old was also fined USD $125,000 and ordered by the Tennis Integrity Unit to repay illicit winnings of USD $12,000. The TIU said Matos contrived the outcome of 10 matches in 2018 at International Tennis Federation-level events in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Portugal and Spain. He also was found guilty of failing to cooperate fully with TIU investigators.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Hiroshima: Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino beat Christina McHale and Valeria Savinykh 3-6 6-4 10-4 (match tiebreak)

Nanchang: Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin beat Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai 6-2 7-6 (5)

Zhengzhou: Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke beat Yanina Wickmayer and Tamara Zidansek 6-1 7-6 (2)

Szczecin: Guido Andreozzi and Andres Moteni beat Matwe Middelkoop and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-4 6-3

SURFING

Pekao: http://pekaoszczecinopen.pl/

Zhengzhou: https://cubingchina.com/competition/Zhengzhou-Open-2019

Osaka: https://cubingchina.com/competition/Zhengzhou-Open-2019

Chengdu: http://www.chengduopentennis.com/

Laver Cup: https://lavercup.com/

Zhuhai: http://www.zhuhaichampionships.cn/