The China Open in Beijing starts the swing of the last two WTA tournaments this year. Exactly one month after the start of this year's last Grand Slam in New York, all the best players in the women's tennis field compete in one place together again, having in mind the possible race into WTA Finals in Riyadh and the positions in the year-end ranking with just a few weeks of the season to go.
There are just a few names missing, but the important ones. The world number one Aryna Sabalenka pulled out from China Open to get more time to recover from the minor injury sustained during the winning campaign in Flushing Meadows. The Australian Open champion Madison Keys has also withdrawn due to an injury, same as Marketa Vondrousova - the recent US Open quarterfinalist. Beatriz Haddad Maia pulled out from Beijing, already ending up her abysmal season with a goal to get rest and focus on health. On the other hand, one of the headlines of China Open is surely the comeback of Qinwen Zheng. The Chinese who lost the whole summer to recover from elbow injury, comes back to competition, however faces quite a pressure from the start. Zheng defends a huge amount of points till the rest of the season, starting from Beijing where she was a semifinalist last year.
We already know the shape of the main draw which got revealed on Monday, two days before the start of the first round which traditionally does not include 32 seeded players who start from the round of 64. Let's take a look at what to expect from the competition in each quarter of the draw.
Swiatek leads the stacked top quarter
The top quarter of the draw is really stacked, being led by the players who recently prevailed in the most important tournaments. Iga Swiatek is obviously a featured player as the top seed, being a favorite after the successful summer trademarked by the victory at Wimbledon, first hard courts title since 2024 in Cincinnati, quarterfinal run in US Open and recent victory in WTA 500 Korea Open on Sunday. Swiatek had to fight hard against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final, which was not the display of her best tennis, but the experience and pressure resistance in crucial moments came out on top to clinch the first WTA 500 title since 2.5 years. Swiatek should easily pass the first hurdle (Yulia Putintseva or Yue Yuan) with a potential clash against Anna Kalinskaya in the round of 32.
This quarter is stacked due to the presence of two US Open semifinalists. Naomi Osaka will try to prove her constant comeback into the top areas of the field after an impressive summer, when she was a finalist in WTA 1000 in Montreal and performed her best Grand Slam run since the winning times years ago. The Japanese excels with her serving performance - scoring 6.2 aces on average and being one of the best servers with 73% of first serve points won and 78% service games won on hard courts this season.
Jessica Pegula is also there as 5th seed and potential Swiatek's quarterfinal opponent, however the form of the American is a question mark. She showed her class in US Open, however the previous WTA 1000 outings were far from being successful, same as the Billie Jean King Cup Finals held last week in Shenzhen. Pegula was struggling to scrape victories over lower-rated opponents and had no chances in the crucial final's clash against Jasmine Paolini. Same goes with 16th seed Emma Navarro, who slowly slides down in the ranking with just 4 wins in the last 12 matches since Wimbledon.
Marta Kostyuk and Emma Raducanu are also the players to watch in this section. The Ukrainian was a quarterfinalist in Montreal and confidently won both her matches in BJKC Finals last week. Raducanu shows some glimpses of the form expected by a large group of her media observers this year, coming back to the range of seeding spots. The Brit can face Jessica Pegula in a potential round of 32 match-up. Kostyuk can play against Osaka there, so this quarter produces some top tier projected clashes in the early phases of the tournament.
The youngsters try to regain form in second quarter
The world number 5 Mirra Andreeva leads the second quarter as the 4th seed. The 18-year-old has toned down her impressive form a bit during the summer, with an early exit in Cincinnati and a surprising upset suffered from Taylor Townsend in the third round of US Open. Victoria Mboko is another teen WTA 1000 champion in this section, still yet to prove the consistency as the sensational storyline in Montreal is the only relevant sample of her class at this level. The US Open ended up in the first round for the Canadian, same as for Clara Tauson who is on the colliding road with Mboko as early as in the round of 32. The Dane plays a great season, however apart from the early exit in US Open, she also suffered a beatdown in the quarterfinals in Seoul last weekend, losing to Maya Joint by 0-6 3-6. Qinwen Zheng will play her first match after comeback against fellow countryman Yafan Wang or Suzan Lamens who was a quarterfinalist in Seoul. Zheng is 7th seed and projected Andreeva's quarterfinal opponent related to rankings.
Third quarter full of contenders
That section same as the top one features the players who mostly succeeded in recent weeks. Amanda Anisimova comes back to action after her second consecutive Grand Slam final, being 3rd seed - the highest ever in a WTA 1000 tournament during her career. Jasmine Paolini comes to Beijing shortly after being the key part of the successful title defense journey performed by the Italian team in BJKC Finals in Shenzhen. Paolini won all her matches in singles and doubles, despite chasing down the scoreline against Xin Yu Wang and Elina Svitolina in the first phases of the new rapid knockout format in the finals. Paolini distinguishes with the high match efficiency ratio, which was reflected in Cincinnati where she made it into the final after some tight three-set battles in the most recent WTA 1000 tournament.
Karolina Muchova comes with a mission to defend the hefty amount of points from last year's run into the final in Beijing. The Czech showed up very well in US Open, also playing under pressure. She made it into the quarterfinals after playing three-set battles in all four matches before coming short to Naomi Osaka in quarters. Muchova can set up the potential round of 32 clash against Paula Badosa who recently came back to action in BJKC Finals. Badosa played just one match, losing in three sets to Elina Svitolina, although showed the promising performance during most of that match. The Ukrainian continues her solid season, being versatile as the most efficient player in this quarter in terms of winning return games but also potent in producing breakpoints and winning first serve points. Svitolina can match up against Veronika Kudermetova in the round of 32. The Russian was a semifinalist in Cincinnati which lifted her back into the top 30 of the rankings.
Tough title defense challenge
The last quarter contains two featured players who struggle to convert their abilities into success on hard courts this year. Coco Gauff leads the bottom half as second seed and the title holder from last year. However, the American is yet to pass the phase of quarterfinals in any singles tournament played on hard in 2025. Gauff is obviously a Grand Slam champion from Roland Garros, however her form in the American swing was subdued with much erratic play, multiple errors and double faults. She made it into the quarterfinals in Cincinnati to get outplayed by Paolini, while Naomi Osaka gave Gauff no chances in the round of 16 top clash of US Open.
Elena Rybakina plays a really disappointing season despite being one of the top, if not the most dangerous and efficient players in terms of serving performance. The Kazakh made it into three consecutive semifinals during summer, suffering the painful losses in Washington and Montreal while being more than close to get into the final and possibly clinch the titles. Rybakina was playing very well in US Open, showing the impressive and very consistent form up until the round of 16 where she got surprisingly eliminated by Marketa Vondrousova after all the great run of form since the late July.
Iva Jovic is the potential Rybakina's round of 32 opponent. The 18-year-old is seeded for the first time after her stunning performance in Guadalajara which granted her career's maiden title in WTA 500 tournament. Jovic shows the great resilience this year, being potent in both converting and defending breakpoints, excelling in match efficiency ratio at such a young age. Ekaterina Alexandrova comes to Beijing shortly after a crushing loss to Iga Swiatek in the final of WTA 500 in Seoul. Alexandrova played very well, looking as the better player on court in longer parts of that match, just to lose in the decisive games of the third set which seemingly was quite devastating for the Russian who lost two WTA 500 finals achieved in just one month. Alexandrova can set up the second round's clash against Barbora Krejcikova who quickly comes back to form after a few months lost due to injuries. Krejcikova was a quarterfinalist in US Open and in Korea and can test the Russian who sits in 10th place in WTA Race as early as in the second round.
