The Wuhan Open in Hubei province, central China, has spent 1.5 billion yuan ($225 million) on its facilities since its inception in 2014.

Last year, the city's most famous resident, two-time grand slam winner Li Na, opened the tournament's new 1 billion yuan center court. Here the Chinese tennis star is pictured with Martina Hingis during a promotional event in Wuhan in 2015.

Night sessions at the 2016 Wuhan Open will start an hour later to give fans more opportunity to attend in the evening.

Modeled on the Australian Open venue, Wuhan's main stadium court has a retractable roof and is big as Wimbledon's Centre Court with space for 15,000 tennis fans. Li and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova attended last year's opening ceremony of the Optics Valley International Tennis Center.

A superstar in China, Li became a global ambassador for her hometown event in May of this year. Here she takes a selfie with fans during a tennis masterclass last year.

Li's success in becoming Asia's first grand slam singles champion has helped boost the profile of tennis in China.

Venus Williams posing with the Wuhan Open trophy, the 47th singles title of her career, in front of the stadium after she beat Spain's Garbine Muguruza in last year's final.