Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci of Italy, and young Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina are the first to qualify for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Elite Trophy Zhuhai, according to the organizing committee.

Elina Svitolina

Looking forward to the Nov 1-6 tournament, director Peter Johnston commented: “Our congratulations to Petra, Roberta and Elina on being the first confirmed qualifiers for this year’s WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. These women are some of the WTA’s biggest stars and great ambassadors of the women’s game. Our fans are going to love watching them play live in Zhuhai.”

Petra Kvitova

Kvitova won the Wimbledon title in both 2011 and 2014, and has been ranked among the WTA top players for several years. One of the favorite WTA players in China, she twice won the singles title at the Wuhan Open. Discovering that she had many fans in Zhuhai, she said, “I’m already looking forward to it.”

Roberta Vinci [Photos courtesy southcn.com]

Italian veteran Vinci, who has won 10 WTA singles titles, was one of the top four in last year’s Zhuhai tournament and fought her way into the final in last year’s US Open, defeating Serena Williams, who was then the world’s top-ranked player.

Earlier this month, Svitolina defeated top-ranked US Open champion Angelique Kerber in the China Open. And, at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, she ousted long-time top-ranked player Serena Williams.

WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai is the highest-level tennis tournament in South China. Organized by Huafa Group, it takes place at the Hengqin International Tennis Center with total prizes of $2.2 million and 700 available points for the singles champion. Players seeded 9 to 19 are required to play, guaranteeing the excellence of the competition.

As of Oct 17, the “Shine in Zhuhai” score rankings showed that Svetlana Kuznetsova, Samantha Stosur, and Caroline Wozniacki also have chances to be selected for the competition.