The Asian swing kicks into full gear at the China Open in Beijing, the penultimate WTA 1000 event before the year-end Finals in Riyadh. With 1,000 ranking points on the line, the tour’s top players are battling for the last few spots in Saudi Arabia as opportunities to climb the Race standings run out.
Played on outdoor hard courts, the 12-day tournament is in its 19th year on the WTA Tour and has become a hallmark of the Asian swing over the past two decades.
Here is everything you need to know about the China Open before main-draw play gets underway.
When does the tournament start?
After two days of qualifying, singles main-draw action begins on Wednesday, Sept. 24. (Doubles will begin two days later.)
The singles and doubles semifinals will be played on Saturday, Oct. 2, and the finals will take place on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 5.
How big are the fields?
There are 96 singles players in the main draw — including 12 qualifiers — and the top 32 seeds will get a first-round bye.
There are 32 teams in the doubles draw.
Who is playing?
Better question: Who isn’t playing?
We wrote that sentence prior to the unfortunate news that World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was withdrawing from the China Open, but the rest of the Top 10 will be in the field in the highest-profile tournament since the US Open.
Six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek now leads the field in Beijing, and she’ll be joined by Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Chinese star Zheng Qinwen — who is playing her first tournament since Wimbledon — and Elena Rybakina.
Paula Badosa is also returning to the tour, and other notable names include US Open semifinalist Naomi Osaka and Montreal champion Victoria Mboko.
There is also a host of former Grand Slam champions in the field — in addition to those above — including Jelena Ostapenko, Sofia Kenin, Emma Raducanu, Bianca Andreescu and Barbora Krejcikova.
The draw will be released on Monday, Sept. 22.
What are the ranking points and prize money at stake?
There’s $8,963,700 in prize money on the line in Beijing, the fourth-most of the 10 WTA 1000 events (only trailing Madrid, Miami and Indian Wells). The winner will take home over $1 million and 1,000 coveted rankings points.
Here’s the breakdown of the ranking points and prize money in play in the singles draw.
Champion: $1,124,380 | 1,000 points
Finalist: $597,890 | 650 points
Semifinalists: $332,160 | 390 points
Quarterfinalists: $189,075 | 215 points
Round of 16: $103,225 | 120 points
Round of 32: $60,400 | 65 points
Round of 64: $35,260 | 35 points
Round of 96: $23,760 | 10 points
Who are the defending champions?
Gauff is the defending singles champion in Beijing. Coming into the tournament as the fourth seed last year, she beat Osaka, Badosa and then Karolina Muchova — who’s also in the field this year — in the final to become only the second American (joining Serena Williams) to win the China Open.
Can Gauff repeat in China? Of course, but she’s not entering the Asian swing in peak form. She didn’t look her sharpest at the US Open, losing to Osaka in the fourth round and still struggling to find confidence in her serve. It will be interesting to see how her service game improves in her second tournament with biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan.
Swiatek is also a past champion (2023), as is Osaka, who won way back in 2019. (The tournament wasn’t played between 2020-22).
Paolini and her countrywoman Sara Errani won the doubles title last year, beating Chan Hao-ching and Veronika Kudermetova in the final.