Amanda Anisimova beat Linda Noskova 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 in last year’s China Open final to win her second WTA 1000 title. She will not be in Beijing to defend it.
The WTA said Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Marta Kostyuk and Sorana Cirstea have withdrawn from the tournament, whose main draw begins on Wednesday, Sept. 30. All four were on the WTA’s projected seeding list for the 96-player event: Pegula at No. 3, Kostyuk at No. 10, Anisimova at No. 11 and Cirstea at No. 15.
Anisimova has a left wrist injury, the same problem that forced her out of the Singapore Tennis Open. In a statement released through the WTA, she said she needed “to focus on recovering from an injury” and that she hoped to be back in Beijing next year. The WTA did not specify Pegula’s injury. She also withdrew from Singapore before it began, so Beijing would have been her first tournament since she reached the US Open semifinals.
The rest of the list. Kostyuk played in Guadalajara after the US Open but missed Ukraine’s run to the Billie Jean King Cup final with a right wrist injury, The Associated Press reported. Cirstea has not competed since New York, according to the WTA. The four join six earlier singles withdrawals listed by the tour: Madison Keys (abdominal injury), McCartney Kessler (hip), Zhang Shuai (change of schedule), Karolina Pliskova (back), Emma Raducanu (leg) and Hanne Vandewinkel (illness). The WTA had already listed Alexandra Eala (schedule change), Victoria Mboko (knee) and Hailey Baptiste (injury) as not competing in Beijing.
Who is left at the top. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina heads the field in her first tournament since winning the US Open, her third Grand Slam title. With Pegula out, the three highest names on the WTA’s projected seeding list are Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, the 2024 champion. Iga Swiatek (2023) and Naomi Osaka (2019) are the other former Beijing champions in the field.
Noskova, last year’s runner-up, and Karolina Muchova, the 2024 finalist, remain entered after spending Sunday in Shenzhen winning both singles rubbers for Czechia in a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup final, AP reported. Noskova’s win in the second rubber came against Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Svitolina is also on the Beijing entry list.
What it means. The 32 seeds in Beijing receive first-round byes, so every seeded withdrawal changes which players get one. The WTA measures ranking changes at the event against what a player earned in the same week a year earlier, which is why Anisimova’s absence leaves last year’s title result without a defence. The tour’s rules on injury withdrawals from its biggest events are set out in our explainer on WTA mandatory events.
The schedule. Qualifying runs Sept. 28-29 and the first round Sept. 30-Oct. 1. The singles final is on Sunday, Oct. 11, not before 7 p.m. local time, which is 7 a.m. Eastern. Total prize money is $9,415,725, and the champion receives 1,000 ranking points and $1,151,380, according to the WTA. All eight singles wild cards went to Chinese players, led by Zheng Qinwen.
For the format, draw and how to watch, see our China Open guide. The WTA’s second 1000-level stop in China, the Wuhan Open, follows in the week of Oct. 12.
