Almost all sports have been impacted by the escalation in precautions taken against the spread of the virus since the first outbreak in China in December. Some qualifying events for the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this year have also been disrupted.

For a sport which needs players to fly around the world every week and play in front of stadiums filled with people, tennis could be hard hit as countries take measures to contain the virus. China is a major location in WTA's calendar and the Tour has already cancelled two 125K series tournaments in China, which were scheduled to be held in April.

"We are proceeding with the remainder of the 2020 WTA Tour season as planned but we will be prepared to make any changes, if deemed necessary in due time," the WTA told Reuters.

The April 27-May 3 Kunming Open in China's Anning became the second tournament to be cancelled after the Xi'an Open which was also scheduled for April.

Zhengzhou, Jiangxi, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, Tianjin and Zhuhai are all set to host WTA events in September and October during the tour's Asian swing. The top eight women's singles players and the same number of doubles teams are then scheduled to assemble in Shenzen in November to compete in the season-ending WTA Finals - considered only below the four Grand Slams in terms of prestige and glamour.

The WTA said it is regularly communicating with health experts, local governments and travel agencies and passing those information to the players.

Copyright Reuters, 2020