I notice that three players have been given byes to the last 32 in the WTA China Open. They are Ashleigh Barty, Caroline Garcia and Jelena Ostapenko. They are far from being the top 3 seeds-in fact, Ashleigh is not even a seed! The obvious explanation is that they reached the semis in the previous week and needed time to travel. This doesn't seem remotely fair, however, either to potential qualifiers who could have had those places nor to the top 3 seeds. Two days after the 1st round started there are at least six matches which haven't been played so the favoured three could have had a decent break. Is there not a rule about who should receive byes?
This has certainly happened in previous years around this time. I think it was also prior to the Beijing Premier Mandatory that the previous week's semi finalists received byes ( assuming main draw acceptances). So I assume it is all planned well in advance and agreed as OK in at least being an allowable arrangement.
