Ningbo Open Entry List: When is the draw? Who is the top seed? Will Emma Raducanu and Victoria Mboko play?
The 2025 Asia swing continues with the Ningbo Open and this year’s field will feature several high-profile players, as five women in the top 10 of the WTA Rankings will compete.
After back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan, the focus will switch to Ningbo for the eighth edition of the tournament with the main draw getting underway on Monday, October 13 and the final set for Sunday October 19.
The Ningbo Open only gained WTA Tour top-level status in 2023 as it was upgraded to a WTA 250 event before being handed WTA 500 status in 2024, with Daria Kasatkina beating Mirra Andreeva at the Yinzhou Tennis Center in last year’s final.
Kasatkina, though, will not return to defend her title in 2025 as she is one of several players who have withdrawn.
How many players will feature at the Ningbo Open?
The WTA 500 tournament is a 28-player singles draw event and 18 players will qualify thanks to their position in the WTA Rankings, three players will enter thanks to wildcards, one has entered using a protected ranking and seven will book their spots via the qualifying tournament.
The top eight players will be seeded with the top four seeds receiving byes into the second round.
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Two of the three wildcards have been confirmed with 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu, currently at No 30 in the rankings, and Chinese No 2 Wang Xinyu (No 37) assured of their entries. 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova has entered using her protected ranking.
Speaking of the seeds…
Fresh from winning the China Open, Amanda Anisimova is the highest-ranked player in the field as she is currently No 4 in the world.
The American will be the top seed with Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Clara Tauson and Emma Navarro the other seeded players.
Anisimova, Andreeva, Pegula and Paolini will avoid first-round matches as they will receive byes.
With Victoria Mboko and Raducanu outside the top 20 in the rankings, they will not be seeded in Ningbo.
Who will not play in 2025?
Besides defending champion Kasatkina, a host of other players have also pulled out of the WTA 500 tournament.
The biggest loss for locals is probably Chinese No 1 Zheng Qinwen as she won’t feature along with Paola Badosa and Elina Svitolina.
A few other players – including Raducanu who retired from her first-round match at the Wuhan Open – could join the list as several stars have struggled with the heat and fatigue at the ongoing WTA 1000 event in Wuhan.
When is the draw for the Ningbo Open?
The draw is scheduled to take place three days before the first-round matches, and Friday October 10, is the day when all will be revealed.
2025 Ningbo Open Entry List
Seeds
1. Amanda Anisimova
2. Mirra Andreeva
3. Jessica Pegula
4. Jasmine Paolini
5. Elena Rybakina
6. Ekaterina Alexandrova
7. Clara Tauson
8. Emma Navarro
Wildcards
Emma Raducanu
Wang Xinyu
TBC
Protected Ranking
Marketa Vondrousova
Rest Of Field
Belinda Bencic
Ludmilla Samsonova
Diana Shnaider
Karolina Muchova
Victoria Mboko
Jeļena Ostapenko
Sofia Kenin
Veronika Kudermetova
Barbora Krejcikova
