Beijing draw: Sabalena, Swiatek top field; Rybakina, Zheng to meet

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WTA/Jimmie48

BEIJING -- The draw is out at the China Open, the Hologic WTA Tour's final WTA 1000 event of the season. Main-draw play begins on Saturday, Sept. 30.

China Open: Scores | Schedule | Draws

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka

, , and are the top four seeds in Beijing, with Swiatek and Gauff primed to make their China debuts.

The four tournament byes were given to the four semifinalists at the Toray Pan Pacific Open: Pegula, Maria Sakkari

, , and .

Main draw at China Open, the last WTA 1000 tournament of the season.

Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile , Iga Swiatek

View Profile , Coco Gauff

View Profile and Jessica Pegula

View Profile are the top seeds.

The byes go to the four Tokyo semifinalists as performance byes: Pegula, Sakkari, Kudermetova, Pavlyuchenkova. pic.twitter.com/slShXhHI6v
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 29, 2023

First quarter

Aryna Sabalenka

tops the draw in her first tournament as the newly minted World No.1. She anchors the top quarter of the draw along with 2022 Wimbledon champion , San Diego champion and 15th seed .

More from Beijing:

Sabalenka will open her tournament against a resurgent Sofia Kenin

. The former World No.4 enjoyed an outstanding September, making the final in San Diego and the semifinals in Guadalajara. Kenin already has a win over Sabalenka this year, beating her in the second round of Rome.

This quarter also features the toughest first-round draw of the tournament, as No.5 seed Rybakina faces US Open quarterfinalist Zheng Qinwen. The Chinese star comes into Beijing fresh off a gold medal run at the Asian Games and is playing her tournament debut.

Second quarter

No.4 seed Jessica Pegula

, who advanced to the Tokyo semifinals on Friday, leads this quarter alongside No.7 seed . The Tunisian has enjoyed a strong week in Ningbo, where she advanced to her first final since Wimbledon and first on a hard court since the 2022 US Open.

With her Performance Bye, Pegula will get underway in the second round against either Donna Vekic

or .

Also looming in the second quarter are No.12 seed Petra Kvitova and No.13 seed Jelena Ostapenko

. In a battle of lefties, Kvitova will face Wang Xiyu in the first round. Ostpapenko takes on a qualifier.

Third quarter

US Open champion Coco Gauff

is set to play her first event as a major champion. The World No.3 is making her China debut and will play in the first round.

Also in this section are Guadalajara champion Sakkari and Kudermetova, who have first-round byes. Sakkari, whose recent success has pushed her into contention for a third consecutive WTA Finals, will play either Linda Fruhvirtova or Arantxa Rus

in the second round.

Fourth quarter

Making her tournament debut, World No.2 Iga Swiatek

leads the last quarter of the draw. She anchors the quarter with Wimbledon champion and the only two former champions in the draw, Caroline Garcia (2017) and (2012).

Swiatek will open against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo.

WTA Staff