2025 China Open Women's Draw: Swiatek and Gauff top the field and Zheng returns

BEIJING -- Defending champion Coco Gauff watched her fate unfold on Monday as she oversaw the draw ceremony for the 2025 China Open at the Clay Garden in Beijing's National Tennis Center.

The China Open's top two seeds this year, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are also the event's last two champions. Both women won the prestigious WTA 1000 title in their Beijing debuts, with Swiatek sweeping the field in 2023 and Gauff following suit in 2024.

Fresh off her title run at the Korea Open last week, which included a tour-leading 57th match win of the year, World No.2 Swiatek is seeded No.1 in Beijing and leads the top half of the 96-player draw. The Top 32 seeds will receive first-round byes. Swiatek will open her tournament against either Yuan Yue or Yulia Putintseva.

Along with Swiatek, No.4 seed Mirra Andreeva, No.5 seed Jessica Pegula, and China's No.1 Zheng Qinwen anchor the top half of the draw. Zheng is set to make her highly-anticipated return to the WTA Tour after undergoing elbow surgery in July. A semifinalist last year, China's Olympic champion will play her first match  since Wimbledon against either Wang Yafan or Suzan Lamans of The Netherlands.

The top half of the draw also sees two additional Grand Slam champions, with 2019 China Open champion Naomi Osaka and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. Osaka enjoyed a resurgent summer on North American hard courts, making the final of the Canadian Open and reaching the last four at the US Open.

Osaka's vanquisher in that Canada Open was 19-year-old Victoria Mboko, who is making her China Open debut this year. The Canadian also landed in the top half of the draw and will have a tough opening test against either Katerina Siniakova or Anastasia Potapova.

World No.3 Gauff is looking to tap into her consistent success in Beijing, where she has made the semifinals or better in both of her prior appearances. Seeded No.2 this year, Gauff leads the bottom half of the draw along with US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova, No.6 seed Jasmine Paolini, and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Looking to defend a WTA 1000 title for the first time in her career, Gauff will open against either Kamilla Rakhimova or Lucia Bronzetti.

Potential quarterfinals (by seed):

[1] Iga Swiatek vs. [5] Jessica Pegula

[4] Mirra Andreeva vs. [7] Zheng Qinwen

[3] Amanda Ansimova vs. [6] Jasmine Paolini

[2] Coco Gauff vs. [8] Elena Rybakina

The first round will see a number of exciting matches. 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu returns to Beijing for the first time since her quarterfinal run of that same year. She will play her first-round match against Poland's Magda Linette. The first round will also see Greece's Maria Sakkari take on Ashlyn Krueger, with the winner to play 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.

The first round will also feature an all-Chinese showdown between Wang Xiyu and Guo Hanyu. Among the other first-round match-ups for the Chinese contingent include Zhu Lin to face a qualifier, with the winner to take on No.4 seed Andreeva, Zhang Shuai will face a qualifier with the winner to play 31st seed Wang Xinyu, Wei Sijia plays Zeynep Sonmez, Han Shi will take on America's McCartney Kessler, and 17-year-old Zhang Ruien will face Eva Lys.