By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 28, 2020
The Toray Pan Pacific Open has canceled due to Coronavirus concerns. The cancellation comes after the WTA cancelled seven tournaments in China.
Photo credit: Toray Pan Pacific open Facebook
The Asian swing is shaping up as a complete miss.
The Toray Pan Pacific Open officially cancelled today due to Coronavirus concerns.
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The Premier-level event, which was scheduled for November 2nd-7th in Tokyo, cancelled for the first time in tournament history dating back to 1984.
"We were trying to find ways [to play the Pan Pacific Open], such as having no audience or limiting the number of spectators," organisers said in a statement. "But we reached the tough conclusion that we have to cancel the tournament given the difficulty of ensuring the safety."
A year ago, Naomi Osaka returned to the city of her birth ruling Osaka.
The top-seeded Osaka did not face a break point overpowering Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2, 6-3, to capture her second title of the season at the Toray Pan Pacific Open last September.
Osaka became the first Japanese woman to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open since Kimiko Date in 1995.
"I just wanted to win this really bad," said Osaka, who split with coach Jermaine Jenkins earlier this month.
This year, organizers shifted the tournament from September to November in the hopes of creating a safe way to play the event. Ultimately, they could not pull it off.
The Pan Pacific Open pulled the plug on the 2020 event days after the WTA announced the cancellation of seven tournaments set for China in the fall. Among the tournaments axed, the WTA's crown jewel WTA Finals Shenzhen, which offered a record $14 million prize money payout.
Currently, the lone Asian tournament still standing on the autumn schedule is the Korea Open set for Seoul October 6-11th, though given the fact the rest of the Asian swing has been wiped out it seems unlikely Seoul will play as scheduled..