WATCH: Heartwarming scenes at Wuhan Open as Xinyu Wang adorably rouses home crowd into singing 'happy birthday' to her coach Miro Hrvatin after 1R win

Heartwarming scenes unfolded at the 2024 Wuhan Open after Xinyu Wang rallied the home crowd to sing happy birthday to her coach, Miro Hrvatin. Wang's gesture came after her victory in the first round of the final WTA 1000 hard-court tournament of the season.

Wang kicked off her campaign at the Wuhan Open with a dominant win over American Caroline Dolehide in the first round, triumphing 6-4, 6-0. During her post-match on-court interview, she shared that it was her coach Miro Hrvatin's birthday and invited the spectators to join her in singing Happy Birthday to him.

The former World No. 32 sang her coach, and the crowd enthusiastically joined in to wish Hrvatin on his birthday.

Watch the video here :

Before beginning her campaign at the Wuhan Open, Xinyu Wang competed at the 2024 China Open. She was initially scheduled to face Amanda Anisimova in the first round. However, the Chinese national's opponent changed to lucky loser Mai Hontama after Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew from the tournament due to a lower back injury. Wang began her campaign by defeating Hontama 6-1, 6-3

Wang's singles journey at the China Open ended in the second round after she lost to 32nd seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 4-6, 5-7. She also competed in the doubles event at the WTA 1000 hard court tournament in Beijing. Wang partnered with Hsieh Su-wei, but they were defeated in the first round by the top-seeded duo of Leylah Fernandez and Erin Routliffe, with a score of 5-7, 2-6.

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Xinyu Wang will face Paula Badosa or Ajla Tomljanovic in Wuhan Open 2024 2R

Xinyu Wang at the 2024 China Open [Image Source: Getty Images]

Xinyu Wang will go up against the winner of the first-round match between 14th seed Paula Badosa and Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round of the 2024 Wuhan Open.

Badosa will be commencing her campaign at Wuhan following her run to the semifinals at the 2024 China Open, where she was defeated by fourth seed and eventual champion Coco Gauff. Meanwhile, Tomljanovic will be entering the WTA 1000 hard court tournament fresh off a title win at the 2024 Hong Kong 125 Open, where she defeated Clara Tauson in the final.

Wang is yet to face Paula Badosa on the WTA tour, making their potential second-round clash at the Wuhan Open their first-time encounter. On the other hand, the former World No. 32 has faced Ajla Tomljanovic once before on the tour, in the first round of the 2022 Nottingham Open, where the Australian emerged victorious with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

The winner of the second-round match between Xinyu Wang, Paula Badosa, or Ajla Tomljanovic will advance to face second seed Jessica Pegula or Anastasia Potapova in the third round of the tournament.