2025 Wuhan Open: Dates, players, prize money and everything else you need to know

There will be plenty at stake next week at the Dongfeng · Voyah Wuhan Open, the final WTA 1000 event before the year-end Finals. It’s the last chance for players to capture a marquee title, add valuable ranking points and prize money and make a push for the remaining spots in Riyadh.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has already punched her ticket to the year-end tournament, as has Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys. There are still three spots up for grabs, and we'll have much more clarity on the final eight as the week in Wuhan rolls on.

Beyond the WTA Finals implications, below is everything you need to know about the Wuhan Open -- the final WTA 1000 tournament of 2025 -- before main-draw play gets underway.

When Does the Tournament Start?

The qualifying tournament will be held on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5, and main-draw play begins on Monday, Oct. 6. It's a shorter WTA 1000 tournament, only running until Sunday, Oct. 12.

How Big Are the Fields?

Unlike the China Open, with its 96-player singles draw, the Wuhan Open is a 56-player singles draw. That includes 43 direct entries, four wild cards, one special exempt spot and eight qualifiers. The top eight seeds will receive byes into the second round.

The doubles field is also slightly reduced from the China Open, with 28 teams rather than 32.

The draw will be announced on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. local time.

What is the Surface and Venue?

The Wuhan Open is played on outdoor hard courts at the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre. There are seven courts, the crown jewel of which is the Central Court stadium, which can hold up to 15,000 fans.

Who is Playing?

The top four players in the PIF WTA Rankings -- Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff and Anisimova -- lead the field, followed by the rest of the top 10 that is hoping to qualify for Riyadh: Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen and Elena Rybakina. It's Sabalenka's first tournament since winning the US Open last month, her fourth career Grand Slam.

Zheng, who returned to the Hologic WTA Tour in Beijing after not playing since Wimbledon, re-injured her elbow at the China Open, but she's still scheduled to play Wuhan.

Other notable names in the field include Naomi Osaka, Karolina Muchova, Emma Navarro, Victoria Mboko, Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu.

The lone Top 10 player who won't be in Wuhan is World No. 6 Madison Keys, who also withdrew from Beijing with an injury. Other notable absentees include former World No. 2 Paula Badosa -- who retired from her third-round match in Beijing with a left hip injury -- and former Grand Slam champions Barbora Krejcikova and Marketa Vondrousova, both of whom are nursing knee injuries.

Replacing the quartet in the main draw is Marie Bouzkova, French Open semifinalist Lois Boisson, Ann Li and Maya Joint.

What Are the Ranking Points and Prize Money at Stake?

There's $3,654,963 in prize money on the line in Wuhan, and the singles champion will take home 1,000 rankings points and just under $600,000.

Here's the full points and prize money breakdown in the singles draw.

Champion: $596,000 | 1,000 points

Finalist: $351,003 | 650 points

Semifinalists: $180,100 | 390 points

Quarterfinalists: $83,250 | 215 points

Round of 16: $41,500 | 120 points

Round of 32: $23,450 | 65 points

Round of 56: $16,860 | 10 points

Who Are the Defending Champions?

Wuhan is a fitting place for Sabalenka to make her post-US Open return, because she owns this tournament.

How dominant has the World No. 1 been here?

She's won this tournament three times (2018, 2019, 2024) -- the only three times she's played it -- and boasts a perfect 17-0 record all-time at the Optics Valley International Tennis Centre.

Because this tournament wasn't held between 2020-23, no player other than Sabalenka has won the Wuhan Open title since 2017. Caroline Garcia won it that year, and Petra Kvitova -- who, like Garcia, retired at the US Open last month -- won the inaugural tournament in 2014, and then again in 2016. Venus Williams, who returned to the tour for the North American hard-court swing this summer, is the only other player to win the Wuhan Open title (2015).

Sabalenka defeated Gauff in the semifinals last year, and then Zheng in the final. The other semifinalist was Wang Xinyu, who's in the field this year.

The reigning doubles champions are Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva. They defeated Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula in the final.

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