Wuhan will stage one of the season’s deepest WTA 1000 fields next month, with every player in the PIF WTA Rankings Top 10 set to contest the hard-court Wuhan Open. US Open winner Elena Rybakina, newly installed at World No. 1, heads a 56-player singles draw that will award 1,000 ranking points and $665,000 to the champion.
The field
Rybakina will be joined by World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, defending Wuhan champion Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva, Linda Noskova, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Muchova, Iga Swiatek and Marta Kostyuk.
All other members of the Top 25 are entered apart from Victoria Mboko, who remains sidelined while recovering from the left-knee injury she sustained during the summer.
The tournament is the second in a consecutive run of WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz schedule. Its main draw is made up of 43 direct acceptances, eight qualifiers, four wild cards and one special-exempt place.
Daria Snigur, Yuliia Starodubtseva, Cristina Bucsa and Karolina Pliskova fill the final four direct-entry positions. Lilli Tagger is first on the alternate list, followed by Anhelina Kalinina, Mayar Sherif and Tamara Korpatsch.
Champions return to Wuhan
Gauff arrives as the reigning titleholder after a flawless run through last year’s tournament, when she did not surrender a set. The American beat seventh seed Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals before overcoming sixth seed Pegula for the trophy.
Her Wuhan record stands at 8-1. Before lifting the title last season, Gauff reached the semifinals in the preceding edition, where Sabalenka stopped her.
Sabalenka brings an even more imposing record to the draw. The Belarusian has won the Wuhan crown three times, taking consecutive titles in 2018 and 2019 before reclaiming the event in 2024 following its four-year absence from the tour calendar.
She owns a 20-1 career mark at the tournament. Her only defeat in Wuhan came in last year’s semifinals against Pegula.
The next round
Main-draw play begins on Monday, Oct. 12, with the final scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 18. The draw is due to be made on Saturday, Oct. 10.
