Entire Top 20 headed to Beijing for WTA 1000 China Open

All of the Top 20 players in the PIF WTA Singles Rankings are headed to Beijing for the China Open, the penultimate WTA 1000 event of the 2024 season. The main-draw entry list was announced by the tournament on Thursday.

The stage is set for an incredible outdoor hard-court showdown among the Hologic WTA Tour’s top players. Main-draw action takes place from September 25 through October 6.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek tops the entry list, as she will return to the Chinese capital in an attempt to defend her title. Swiatek made her Beijing debut last year, battling to a narrow quarterfinal win over former champion Caroline Garcia en route to the trophy.

The remaining members of the Top 5 join Swiatek at the apex of the entry list: two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and 2024’s breakthrough player Jasmine Paolini.

Two-time China Open champion Caroline Wozniacki (2010 and 2018) is in the main-draw entries, as is 2012 champion Victoria Azarenka and 2017 champion Garcia. (2019 champion Naomi Osaka is currently just outside the main-draw entries as the 10th alternate.)

Chinese No.1 and World No.7 Zheng Qinwen will also be a major star attraction in the field, as she heads to home soil following her gold-medal performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Grand Slam champions on the entry list are Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff, Rybakina, Wozniacki, Azarenka, reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, Jelena Ostapenko, Sofia Kenin, Sloane Stephens and Emma Raducanu.

All told, 74 of the Top 77 players in the singles rankings are entered, with No.77 Cristina Bucsa being the last direct entry at the moment. Ajla Tomljanovic and Irina-Camelia Begu are the two main-draw entrants who are in via their protected rankings.

The three players in the Top 77 who are not entered are former Wimbledon champion and World No.22 Marketa Vondrousova (continuing shoulder injury), No.39 Sorana Cirstea (continuing foot injury) and No.61 Zhu Lin (continuing foot injury).

If there are any withdrawals from the list, 78th-ranked Harriet Dart of Great Britain would be the next direct entry, followed by No.79 Bernarda Pera of the United States.

The China Open started as a premier-level event on the calendar 20 years ago in 2004. That year, WTA superstar Serena Williams captured the title.