2025 WTA Qatar Open: When is the draw? Can Iga Swiatek return to No 1? Will Madison Keys, Emma Raducanu play?

Shahida Jacobs
Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek holds the trophy after winning the Qatar Open final.

The Qatar Open is the first WTA 1000 event on the 2025 calendar and there are some interesting story lines at play.

Iga Swiatek is the three-time defending champion in Doha, but Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed at the event after she held off the Pole for the world No 1 ranking with her run to the final of the Australian Open.

This year marks the 23rd edition of the tournament and it now forms part of the Middle East WTA 1000 double-header along with the Dubai Tennis Championships.

When and where does the 2025 Qatar Open take place?

The tournament will run from 9-15 February on the hard courts of the Khalifa International Tennis Complex with the total prize pool set $3,654,963.

The points structure for the main draw is as follows: Winner 1000 points, runner-up 650 points, semi-finalists 390 points, quarter-finalists 215 points, 120 points round of 16, 65 points round of 32 and 10 points round of 64.

It is a 56-player singles draw tournament and eight of those will come through qualifiers, four will enter through wildcards while the top eight seeds will have byes.

What happened last year?

Swiatek defeated third seed Rybakina in straight sets in the final to complete a hat-trick of titles. Fellow top-five seeds Coco Gauff, Zheng Qinwen, Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova all lost early.

Unseeded players Collins, Karolina Pliskova, Victoria Azarenka, Naomi Osaka, Leylah Fernandez and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova all reached the quarter-final.

Who will compete in Doha in 2025?

The seedings will be based on the WTA Rankings of 3 February and, as things stand, seven of the top eight players in the Live Rankings will compete.

They are: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Zheng Qinwen and Emma Navarro.

The likes of Paula Badosa, Daria Kasatkina, Barbora Krejcikova and Mirra Andreeva are also in the draw and will be among the top-16 seeds.

The wildcards and qualifiers for the WTA 1000 event are still to be confirmed.

Who will not compete at the 2025 Qatar Open?

New Australian Open champion and current world No 7 Madison Keys is the biggest absentee as she withdrew due to a hamstring problem while fellow American Danielle Collins will miss the tournament due to a foot injury.

The cut-off for the rankings is currently at No 47, but there could be a few more withdrawals ahead of the event.

As things stand, Emma Raducanu won’t feature as she doesn’t have a direct entry, but she could still play qualifiers or get a main draw wildcard.

WTA News

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When will the draw take place?

The main draw ceremony will take place on Friday 7 February with the singles tournament getting underway on 9 February and the final taking place on 15 February.

Battle for the No 1 spot…

Can Iga Swiatek return to the No 1 ranking after the Qatar Open? The answer is no.

Sabalenka currently leads the rankings with 8,956 points and, although Swiatek is just 186 points behind, she can’t be bumped off top spot after the tournament.

The reason is simple. Swiatek is the defending champion so she will drop 1,000 points at the start and the maximum she can leave with his 8,770.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, hasn’t featured in Doha the past two season so she doesn’t have any points to defend.