The WTA Tour on Sunday called on the Chinese government to investigate allegations of sexual assault made by Peng Shuai against a former Chinese vice premier, while also demanding an end to censorship of the former top-ranked doubles player.

Peng, one of China's biggest sporting stars, alleged on her Weibo social media account on Nov 2 that Zhang Gaoli, who became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China's top decision-making body - coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.

Peng said in the post, which was deleted around half an hour after...