IN THE wake of the respective WTA and ATP Tour 1000 events in Wuhan and Shanghai that were won by tournament top seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner respectively, a lot of the lower ranked players headed to tournaments across the globe.

In today’s Around the Tour, we take a look at the sole 500 event in Ningbo where Mirra Andreeva produced a dominant win, while Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin was stunned by a Japanese qualifier in Osaka. We will also take a look at other ATP 250 events in Antwerp, Stockholm and Almaty.

Ningbo Open | Ningbo, China – WTA 500

Andreeva looked like she had somewhere to be against American qualifier Varvara Lepchenko, belting the veteran who is 21 years her senior in just 55 minutes. The 17-year-old won 6-2 6-0 and only dropped eight total points on serve, all while saving the only two break points she faced and broke the Uzbekistan-born Lepchenko five times from as many chances.

Funnily enough, Andreeva’s victory was one of three identical 6-2 6-0 scorelines at the WTA 500 event in China, with Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva taking slightly longer at 67 minutes to put away another United States representative in Caroline Dolehide, while Chinese wildcard Xiyu Wang upset Russian qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova in a surprisingly long 91 minutes considering the final result.

The other two Round of 32 matches on day one were far closer, with eighth seed and former world number three Paula Badosa taking out talented Russian Diana Shnaider in what was clearly the match of the day. Coming from a set down, the Spaniard won 4-6 6-3 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes on Center Court.

Meanwhile in the other match – strangely between two lucky losers who had earned second chances – German Tamara Korpatsch out-grinded Hungarian Anna Bondar. In a whopping three hours and 33 minutes, Korpatsch won 6-7 7-6 6-4 to reach the second round of the event.

Brazilian world number 10 Beatriz Haddad Maia is top seed for the event, named there prior to second seed Qinwen Zheng‘s rise to seventh. Barbora Krejcikova and Daria Kasatkina are the next highest ranked players.

Japan Open | Osaka, Japan – WTA 250

Four matches took place in Osaka where the biggest shock was American wildcard and Grand Slam winner Kenin suffering a defeat from the jaws of victory against Japanese qualifier, Aoi Ito. Kenin was 5-2 up in the deciding set, before losing the last five games of the match to go down in an hour and 48 minutes, 6-2 3-6 7-5.

The United States-Japan battle went the other way in the other Center Court match as McCartney Kessler proved too good for another qualifier in Ena Shibahara, winning 6-4 6-1 in an hour and 25 minutes. In other results, a pair of Italians made their way through to the Round of 16 with Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Lucia Bronzetti both posting wins.

Nordic Open | Stockholm, Sweden – ATP 250

Former Top 10 star Matteo Berrettini showed he is still very much a force to be reckoned with, having surpassed compatriot Luciano Darderi on the world rankings recently (42-44) and then put him away 6-4 6-3 in Stockholm. He advanced through to the Round of 16 to take on Swiss hope Dominic Stricker who fought past American Aleksandar Kovacevic in three sets, 6-4 5-7 6-4.

Another Italian in Lorenzo Sonego won in a tight two-setter to set up a mammoth second round clash with second seed, Casper Ruud. The world number 50 ousted Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler in the first round. In the other match, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor knocked off Russian Pavel Kotov in straight sets, 6-4 6-3.

European Open | Antwerp, Belgium – ATP 250

The European Open sees the return of Australian Alex de Minaur who will be the top seed at the event, while Greek hope Stefanos Tsitsipas lines up as second seed. The Aussie world number nine is fighting for a spot at the ATP Finals, and will begin his campaign against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena after he defeated German Dominik Koepfer comprehensively, 6-4 6-0 on day one.

It was a similar story for Hungarian Marton Fucsovics who made light work of Belgian wildcard Raphael Collignon 6-2 6-0, to go on for a second round battle against third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Argentinians Tomas Etcheverry and Mariano Navone – seeded sixth and seventh – won in tight tussles over Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Brazilian Thiago Monteiro respectively.

Almaty Open | Almaty, Kazakhstan – ATP 250

In the weakest of the 250 draws, top seed Frances Tiafoe is resounding favourite to take out the Almaty Open title, with Chilean Alejandro Tabilo the second seed. Just three main draw matches took place on day one as the second round of qualifying was completed. Among the winning qualifiers was veteran and local hope Mikhail Kukushkin, as well as former Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev and former Top 30 Brit, Daniel Evans.

From the first round matches, talented Croatian Borna Coric picked up a 6-4 7-6 victory over Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in a match that lasted an hour and 51 minutes, while German pair Maximilian Marterer and wildcard Justin Engel both won their matches 7-5 6-4. Marterer was too good for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur, while the 17-year-old Engel overcame Switzerland’s Coleman Wong.