With World No. 1 Iga Swiatek having pulled out, Aryna Sabalenka is again the top seed at the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open, which starts in China on Monday, but the Belarusian has been handed a tough draw, with both Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro in her half.
Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Coco Gauff, Zheng Qinwen, Emma Navarro, Barbora Krejcikova, Daria Kasatkina, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Anna Kalinskaya round up the top 10 seeds.
Early and exciting 1st-round matches feature Haddad Maia against Madison Keys, Leylah Fernandez taking on Diana Shnaider, Kalinskaya squaring off with Peyton Stearns, Katie Volynets battling Anastasia Potapova, and Sofia Kenin facing Ekaterina Alexandrova, amongst others.
The Chinese city of Wuhan returns to the tennis spotlight after a 5-year hiatus as the venue for the last WTA 1000 of the season, in which Sabalenka has the chance to close the gap on Swiatek in the rankings to under 100 points over the coming week, but, as at the China Open, the World No. 2 must win the title to do so.
She fell short, and following her run to the quarter-final in Beijing, Sabalenka starts in Wuhan 1,069 points behind the Pole and, with 1,000 points on offer to the winner, so that gap could be reduced to the narrowest of margins if the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion lifts the trophy.
Swiatek is on a break after parting ways with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and remains on 9,785 points, while the Belarusian can only add to her current 9,716 points.
Despite the absence of Swiatek and other absentees Naomi Osaka, Elena Rybakina, and Danielle Collins, the 56-woman field is a strong one.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka arrives in Wuhan confident and on form, and with the World No. 1 within her grasp
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Sabalenka is the reigning two-time champion, winning back-to-back titles here in 2018 and 2019, and flourishes on the historically quick hard courts.
In spite of her 3-set loss to Karolina Muchova in the China Open quarter-finals, which ended her career-best 15-match win streak, Sabalenka returns to Wuhan full of confidence and on form.
She has to come through a difficult field, though, as she faces either Katerina Siniakova or wild-card Alexandra Eala in the 1st-round, while she could meet Zhang Shuai, Yulia Putintseva, or 15th seed Donna Vekic in round 3.
Zhang caused some big upsets at the China Open, defeating 6th seed Emma Navarro on her way to the quarter-final.
Navarro also is in Sabalenka’s section, and the pair are projected to meet in the Last 8, with the winner likely to face 4th-seeded Gauff in the semi-final.
The 20-year old American, who has reached the final of the China Open, faces Ashlyn Krueger or Viktoriya Tomova in the 2nd-round, while she could meet 8th seed Daria Kasatkina in the Last 8.
Jessica Pegula is the 2nd seed in Wuhan next week, the last WTA 1000 event of the year
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Pegula, the World No. 3, is the highest-ranked player in the bottom half of the draw, and the American will kick off her campaign against either Potapova or Volynets, while she could meet 14th seed Paula Badosa, who was a semi-finalist in Beijing, in the 3rd-round.
The No. 2 seed is projected to meet Barbora Krejcikova in the quarter-final, and 3rd-seeded Jasmine Paolini in the Last 4.
Paolini, though, will most likely have to get past 16th seed Mirra Andreeva in the 3rd-round and 5th seed Zheng in the quarters if she is to reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Zheng, who grew up in the Hubei province and trained in Wuhan, is making her tournament debut, and coming off her inspired run to the Last 4 in Beijing.
The last time the tournament was staged in 2019, Zheng was a 693rd-ranked local wild-card in qualifying and lost in the 1st-round of qualifying to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Also drawn in this section are Karolina Muchova, Badosa, and Andreeva, all of whom enjoyed a run to the Last 8 or better in Beijing, plus and Diana Shnaider, who will open against Leylah Fernandez.
Muchova faces either Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian or a qualifier in the 1st-round, while Andreeva, who is set to make her Top 20 debut on Monday, will take on Wang Xiyu.
