BEIJING, China - US Open champion Bianca Andreescu will make her 2019 Asian Swing debut at the China Open, the 2019 season's final Premier Mandatory tournament.
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Andreescu has enjoyed a breakthrough year with wins at the BNP Paribas Open and Rogers Cup, culminating at Flushing Meadows where she became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.
The teenager, who hasn't lost a completed match since the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, has been off the court since stunning 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams in the final. Seeded No.5 in Beijing, she opens against tricky Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Former World No.1 and No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova is Andreescu's projected semifinal opponent, while No.4 seed and reigning Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka is a possible quarterfinal foe.
Pliskova won a tour-leading fourth title of 2019 two weeks ago at the Zhengzhou Open, and will play her first match against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who was forced to retire from her first round at the Tashkent Open due to illness.
Osaka is fresh off a title of her own, winning the Toray Pan Pacific Open in her hometown of Osaka, and will play her first round against American Jessica Pegula.
Rounding out the bottom half is No.6 seed and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, who retired midway through her third round encounter with Elena Rybakina due to a back injury. Provided the Romanian is back to full health, she will play her first round against a qualifier.
Roland Garros champion and top seed Ashleigh Barty is at the top of the draw alongside Wimbledon and US Open semifinalist Elina Svitolina, seeded No.3.
Still playing the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, Barty received a bye into the China Open's second round, and will begin her week in Beijing against Toray Pan Pacific Open quarterfinalist Yulia Putinseva or a qualifier.
Svitolina heads to the Chinese capital after taking a Wuhan quarterfinal defeat to an on-fire Alison Riske, and will look to restart her momentum in difficult opener against former World No.11 Anastasija Sevastova.