Rybakina, Zheng join impressive field at Queen's Club

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina has joined the field at next week's HSBC Championships, the first tournament of the Grass-Court Swing.

Rybakina, into the tournament as a Top 30 Replacement Player, will be the top seed at Queen's Club, where she'll compete against fellow Top 10 players Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova and Victoria Mboko.

Rybakina played the WTA 500 tournament last year, beating Heather Watson in her opening match before losing to Tatjana Maria in the quarterfinals. The Australian Open champion will look to rebound after an earlier-than-expected exit at Roland Garros, where she was upset by Yuliia Starodubtseva in the second round.

World No. 56 Zheng Qinwen is also into the main draw following Hailey Baptiste's expected withdrawal. 

Baptiste, who was having the best season of her WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz career, suffered a devastating injury during her second-round match at Roland Garros, and later confirmed on Instagram that her season was over.

"The most heartbreaking end to the best season of my life," the World No. 26 wrote. "Still waiting to wake up from this nightmare. In my head, all I can think is why, why, and why. Why me? Why now? And why like this? It’s hard to see any purpose in something like this right now, but in my heart, I truly believe everything happens for a reason."

Zheng made the semifinals at Queen's Club last year, beating McCartney Kessler and Emma Raducanu before falling to Anisimova in the semifinals.

Another addition to the main draw is World No. 33 Cristina Bucsa. World No. 12 Linda Noskova has withdrawn.

The tournament will also mark the highly-anticipated return of 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who is returning to the tour after nearly four years. She will be in the doubles draw. 

The first three main-draw alternates are Karolina Pliskova, Alexandra Eala and Laura Siegemund.

Maria, currently a main-draw alternate, is the defending champion at Queen's Club. The tournament returned to the WTA Tour calendar last year for the first time in more than five decades.

First-round action at the HSBC Championships will kick off on Monday, June 8, and the tournament will run through Sunday, June 14.