World No. 11 Emma Navarro, World No. 12 Elise Mertens and World No. 26 Leylah Fernandez headline a star-studded 28-player singles field at the Guadalajara Open Akron, a hard-court WTA 500 tournament in Zapopan, Mexico.
The tournament starts on September 8, two days after the US Open women’s final, and concludes on September 14.
Rounding out the top 10 seeds are reigning champion Magdalena Frech, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, World No. 34 Anna Kalinskaya, former World No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova, Magda Linette, Tatjana Maria and Sonay Kartal.
Americans Peyton Stearns and Alycia Parks are also in the field, as is 2023 champion Maria Sakkari.
Frech, currently ranked 28th in the world, won her first and only title here last year, defeating Australian Olivia Gadecki, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in the final.
Played at the Panamerican Tennis Center, the site of the 2021 WTA Finals, the Guadalajara Open Akron was founded in 2022 as a WTA 1000 event, but it shifted to the WTA 500 tier last year.
Tennis Returns to Sao Paulo
Twenty-five years later, tennis is back in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian city last hosted a WTA event in 2000, when it was a Tier IV clay-court event called the Brasil Open. (Fun fact: Hungarian Rita Kuti Kis defeated Argentinian Paola Suarez in the final. Second fun fact: The tournament moved to Mata de Sao Joao for the 2001 and 2002 events, won by Monica Seles and Anastasia Myskina, respectively.)
This tournament, now called the SP Open, is a WTA 250 and will be played on hard courts. World No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia leads the 32-player singles field, and she’ll be joined by American Hailey Baptiste and rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala, who shocked the tennis world when she advanced to the semifinals in Miami earlier this year.
Rounding out the top five seeds are Mexico’s Renata Zarazua and Argentina’s Solana Sierra.
Like the Guadalajara Open, the SP Open will kick off on September 8 and conclude on the 14th.