The Ningbo Open is a WTA 500 tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Ningbo, China, and one of the last stops of the Asian swing. The 2026 edition runs October 19 to 25 at the Ningbo Tennis Center.
Last year the final settled more than a title. Elena Rybakina lost the opening set to Ekaterina Alexandrova, then won nine games in a row across the second and third sets to take the trophy 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, according to the WTA. The run helped her into the WTA Finals, which she went on to win. That is the tournament’s place on the calendar: late enough that every result moves the year-end race.
Dates and venue
First-round singles matches begin on Monday, October 19, and the tournament runs through Sunday, October 25, when both the singles and doubles finals are played, according to the WTA. Matches are at the Ningbo Tennis Center on outdoor hard courts.
Draw format
The singles draw has 28 players and the doubles draw 16 teams. The singles field is made up of direct entrants plus six qualifiers, four wild cards and one special exempt spot, the WTA said. The top four seeds receive byes into the second round, so they need four match wins for the title while everyone else needs five. Qualifying works as at other tour events; our guide to tour-level qualifying explains the path.
Points and prize money
The singles champion earns 500 ranking points and $185,500, according to the WTA, which lists the tournament’s total financial commitment at $1,206,446. For how the 500 level sits between the WTA 1000 events and the 250s, see our WTA 500 guide.
History
The Ningbo Open was founded in 2010. It was a WTA 125 event in 2013 and 2014, returned in 2023 as a WTA 250 after a nine-year gap, and was upgraded to WTA 500 status in 2024, according to the WTA.
Past champions
Tour-level era, singles finals:
- 2025 (WTA 500): Elena Rybakina d. Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
- 2024 (WTA 500): Daria Kasatkina d. Mirra Andreeva 6-0, 4-6, 6-4
- 2023 (WTA 250): Ons Jabeur d. Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-1
Each of the three finals has a story attached. Jabeur took a last-minute wild card in 2023 after a third-round loss in Guadalajara and won the first hard-court title of her career, winning all six deuce games in a 78-minute final, the WTA reported. Kasatkina won the first edition at 500 level as the fifth seed, beating Andreeva in three sets. Rybakina, the third seed in 2025, beat fourth seed Alexandrova for the 10th title of her career.
Ningbo and the WTA Finals race
The WTA describes Ningbo as the second-to-last 500 event on its calendar, which is why it tends to carry weight in the Race to the WTA Finals. With few events left in the season, a deep week here can move a player on the edge of the eight-woman singles field, as Rybakina’s did in 2025. Our guide to the ATP and WTA Finals covers the year-end events themselves.
How to watch
Television and streaming rights vary by country. The WTA’s where-to-watch page lists the rights holders for each region. Other stops on the swing are covered in our China Open guide and Wuhan Open guide.
Season Snapshot — as of 28 September 2026
Entry list. Defending champion Rybakina leads the field, joined by fellow Top 10 players Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek and Marta Kostyuk, according to the entry list the WTA published on 24 September. Top 20 players Belinda Bencic, Iva Jovic, Diana Shnaider, Sorana Cirstea, Alexandra Eala, Elise Mertens and Jasmine Paolini are also entered, with Anna Kalinskaya, Maja Chwalinska, Marie Bouzkova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Sara Bejlek completing the direct entrants. The first five alternates were Diane Parry, Leylah Fernandez, Jelena Ostapenko, Cristina Bucsa and Wang Xinyu. Entry lists change with withdrawals.
Race to the WTA Finals. On the WTA’s 24 September standings, Rybakina had already qualified, while Svitolina, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova held sixth, seventh and eighth. Swiatek was ninth and Kostyuk 10th. The WTA noted that Noskova, as a Grand Slam champion, would qualify unless she fell below 20th.
Rankings. Rybakina arrives in the Asian swing as world No. 1, according to the WTA.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
