The Hologic WTA Tour heads to Asia next week and the Toray Pan Pacific Open leads the way. For the first time since 2018, the tournament returns to a newly-renovated Ariake Coliseum and features a solid field that includes Paula Badosa, Caroline Garcia, Elena Rybakina, and defending champion Naomi Osaka. 

Here's what you need to know about Tokyo:

When does the tournament start?

The Toray Pan Pacific Open is a WTA 500 event held at Ariake Coliseum and Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo, Japan. The last edition of the tournament was held in 2019 in Osaka due to renovations to the venue in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. The tournament was not held the last two years due to Covid.

Tokyo features a 28-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw.Into its 37th edition, the tournament is played on outdoor hard court and uses the Dunlop Australian Open ball. 

Main draw play begins on Monday, Sept. 19.

When are the finals? 

The singles and doubles finals will be played on Sunday, Sept. 25. The singles final is scheduled at noon with the doubles final to follow. 

Getty Images/Koji Watanabe

Who are the defending champions?

Naomi Osaka captured her first title on home soil in 2019, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Osaka would proceed to go back-to-back during the Asian swing, winning the China Open two weeks later. 

Chan Hao Ching and Latisha Chan took home the doubles title, defeating Hsieh Su-Wei and Hsieh Yu-chieh 7-5, 7-5.

Who are the top seeds?

1. Paula Badosa
2. Caroline Garcia
3. Garbiñe Muguruza
4. Veronika Kudermetova
5. Beatriz Haddad Maia
6. Karolina Pliskova
7. Alison Riske-Amritraj
8. Elena Rybakina

World No.4 Badosa and No.10 Garcia lead this year's strong field. The draw features four major champions, with Muguruza, Rybakina, Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin, and three former No.1s in Muguruza, Osaka, and Pliskova. 

The top four seeds have byes into the second round. 

What does the draw look like?

What is the prize money and ranking points on offer?

First Round: 1 point/$8,080
Second Round: 55 points/ $11,185
Quarterfinals: 100 points/$20,505
Semifinal: 185 points/$42,010
Final: 305 points/$71,960
Champion: 470 points/$116,340

Key Storylines

Naomi Osaka returns to Japan: The defending champion has enjoyed consistent success at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. She was a two-time finalist before breaking through to win the title in 2019 when the event was hosted in her hometown of Osaka. She'll have a tough task in the opening round after drawing Daria Saville. The winner will face either No.5 seed Haddad Maia or Yuki Naito.

Caroline Garcia looks to keep rolling: The Cincinnati champion saw her 13-match win streak come to an end to Ons Jabeur in the US Open semifinals but her run put her back in the Top 10 for the first time since 2018. Garcia will face either Zhang Shuai or Mai Hontama in the second round.

Race to the WTA Finals heats up: With Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur already qualified, six spots remain for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. Four players can bolster their positions in Tokyo. Garcia sits at No.5 on the Race leaderboard behind Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff and could overtake them both with a title run.

Kudermetova sits at No.10 in the Race and Badosa is right behind her at No.10. A late season push from Haddad Maia, who is currently at No.17, could see the Brazilian surge up the leaderboard.