China Open entry list: Who is top seed with Aryna Sabalenka out? Is Emma Raducanu seeded? Will Alex Eala play?

The 2025 China Open marks the penultimate WTA 1000 event on the 2025 tennis calendar and Coco Gauff will return to defend her title, but she will not be the top seed in Beijing.

This year marks the 26th edition of the China Open on the WTA Tour calendar with Serena Williams winning the inaugural 2004 edition when it was still a Tier II event while in 2009 it was upgraded to a WTA Premier Mandatory with Svetlana Kuznetsova lifting the trophy.

Following the WTA tournament rebranding in 2020, the China Open and other WTA Premier Mandatory events were renamed WTA 1000 events, but the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it only returned in 2023 with Iga Swiatek crowned champion.

The WTA event will be staged from September 24 until October 4 at the National Tennis Center in Beijing – with the main showcourt the Diamond Court holding 15,000 fans – and here we give you all the other important information about the players.

How many players will feature at the China Open?

The WTA 1000 event is a 96-player singles draw event with the top-32 entrants receiving seeded status.

Eight players have received wildcards, four players have entered using their protected ranking, 12 gain entry via the qualifying tournament while the rest enter through their position in the WTA Rankings.

All eight wildcards have gone to Chinese players with Yuan Yue – No 102 – the highest-ranked player, while Bianca Andreescu and Caty McNally are among the players to use their protected ranking to enter.

WTA News

Emma Raducanu spurns major Korea Open opportunity as star misses match points in loss

Aryna Sabalenka makes shock withdrawal as world No 1 battle set to heat up

Any withdrawals and replacements?

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the biggest name to withdraw from the event as she is struggling with a minor injury and she has been replaced by Alex Eala in the main draw.

Danielle Collins and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are also out with Iva Jovic – who won her maiden tournament recently at the Guadalajara Open – and Solana Sierra their replacements.

Who are the top seeds?

With Sabalenka not playing, world No 2 Swiatek will go into P1 in the draw with defending champion Coco Gauff headlining the bottom half of the draw as the second seed.

The top two are followed by Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen, Elena Rybakina and Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Is Emma Raducanu seeded?

The answer is yes.

Raducanu currently sits at No 33 in the WTA Rankings, but Sabalenka’s withdrawal means she moves up one place to No 32 and earn the final seeding position.

2025 China Open entry list

1. Iga Swiatek (2​)
2. Coco Gauff (3)
3. Amanda Anisimova (4)
4. Mirra Andreeva (5)
5. Madison Keys (6)
6. Jessica Pegula (7)
7. Jasmine Paolini (8)
8. Zheng Qinwen (9)
9. Elena Rybakina (10)
10. Ekaterina Alexandrova (11)
11. Clara Tauson (12)
12. Elina Svitolina (13)
13. Naomi Osaka (14)
14. Karolina Muchova (15)
15. Daria Kasatkina (16)
16. Belinda Bencic (17)
17. Emma Navarro (18)
18. Diana Shnaider (19)
19. Paula Badosa (20)
20. Liudmila Samsonova (21)
21. Elise Mertens (22)
22. Victoria Mboko (23)
23. Jeļena Ostapenko (24)
24. Beatriz Haddad Maia (25)
25. Marta Kostyuk (26)
26. Veronika Kudermetova (27)
27. Leylah Fernandez (28)
28. Linda Nosková (29)
29. Sofia Kenin (30)
30. Anna Kalinskaya (31)
31. Dayana Yastremska (32)
33. Emma Raducanu (34)
Magdalena Frech
Xinyu Wang
Rebecca Sramkova
Magda Linette
Ashlyn Krueger
Olga Danilovic
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
Mccartney Kessler
Tatjana Maria
Maya Joint
Marie Bouzkova
Lois Boisson
Hailey Baptiste
Katie Boulter
Donna Vekic
Jaqueline Cristian
Sonay Kartal
Laura Siegemund
Anastasia Potapova
Peyton Stearns
Yulia Putintseva
Alycia Parks
Lucia Bronzetti
Ann Li
Eva Lys
Marketa Vondrousova
Barbora Krejcikova
Camila Osorio
Maria Sakkari
Kamilla Rakhimova
Suzan Lamens
Polina Kudermetova
Yuliia Starodubtseva
Antonia Ruzic
Elena-gabriela Ruse
Sorana Cirstea
Viktorija Golubic
Iva Jovic
Solana Sierra
Alex Eala

Protected Rankings
Bianca Andreescu (PR)
Anastasija Sevastova (PR)
Caty Mcnally (PR)
Yafan Wang (PR)

Wildcards
Guo Hanyu
Shi Han
Wang Xiyu
Wei Sijia
Yuan Yue
Zhang Ruien
Zhang Shuai
Zhu Lin

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