The women’s grass season opens in earnest at the Queen’s Club this week, and the WTA 500 HSBC Championships have assembled a field deep enough to make the road to Wimbledon worth watching from day one.
At the top of the draw is Elena Rybakina. The world No. 2 took a wildcard into the event after a disappointing French Open, and few players on tour transfer to grass as naturally — her serve and flat, low strikes are a fit for the surface, and a strong week here would re-establish her among the favorites for the All England Club. She heads a list that also features No. 6 Amanda Anisimova, last year’s beaten Queen’s finalist, and No. 9 Victoria Mboko, alongside Belinda Bencic, Marta Kostyuk, Qinwen Zheng and Sorana CĂ®rstea.
The home interest is considerable. Emma Raducanu makes her Queen’s debut and opens against a qualifier, while Katie Boulter has drawn a stern first-round test against eighth seed Leylah Fernandez. Britain handed wildcards to Boulter, Francesca Jones, Harriet Dart and Mika Stojsavljević, giving the West Kensington crowd plenty to follow as the players hunt early grass-court form.
There is intrigue elsewhere in the bracket. Defending champion Tatjana Maria, who made history last year as the first WTA winner at Queen’s in more than half a century, had to come through qualifying this time. The draw has also reshuffled around late changes: world No. 5 Jessica Pegula withdrew after an early Roland Garros exit, and Zheng’s place came via another withdrawal. Adding to the occasion, Serena Williams is in the doubles draw as part of her comeback.
Rain interrupted the opening matches, but the schedule pushes on toward Sunday’s final on 14 June. With Wimbledon now three weeks out, every set on these lawns counts as preparation as much as competition.
