Women's main draw play at the 2025 China Open will begin Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 11:00 a.m. local time in Beijing. This outdoor hard-court WTA 1000-level event is loaded with talent and will feature eight of the top-10 players in the world, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and American Madison Keys have elected to sit out this week. Below are the title contenders and sleepers for the 2025 China Open.
Favorites to Win the 2025 China Open
Iga Swiatek: The reigning Wimbledon champion also won this tournament in 2023 and comes into this year as the No. 1 seed while notably not having to worry about Sabalenka looming in later rounds. A firm test won't likely come until the quarterfinals, where she'd face Naomi Osaka (2-1 H2H) or Jessica Pegula (6-4 H2H), both of whom she has winning records against.
Coco Gauff: The top American will be defending her 2024 title here in Beijing and should be favored all the way until a potential finals match against the aforementioned Swiatek. Though, Gauff holds just a 15-8 record on hard courts so far in 2025, so while she'll still be favored to advance far, her lacking level of consistency needs to be recognized.
In the Mix to Win the 2025 China Open
Naomi Osaka: Osaka is the only player in the draw not named Iga or Coco to have previously won the China Open, which she did back in 2019. A tough match against Pegula (1-1 H2H) likely
Women's main draw play at the 2025 China Open will begin Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 11:00 a.m. local time in Beijing. This outdoor hard-court WTA 1000-level event is loaded with talent and will feature eight of the top-10 players in the world, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and American Madison Keys have elected to sit out this week. Below are the title contenders and sleepers for the 2025 China Open.
Favorites to Win the 2025 China Open
Iga Swiatek: The reigning Wimbledon champion also won this tournament in 2023 and comes into this year as the No. 1 seed while notably not having to worry about Sabalenka looming in later rounds. A firm test won't likely come until the quarterfinals, where she'd face Naomi Osaka (2-1 H2H) or Jessica Pegula (6-4 H2H), both of whom she has winning records against.
Coco Gauff: The top American will be defending her 2024 title here in Beijing and should be favored all the way until a potential finals match against the aforementioned Swiatek. Though, Gauff holds just a 15-8 record on hard courts so far in 2025, so while she'll still be favored to advance far, her lacking level of consistency needs to be recognized.
In the Mix to Win the 2025 China Open
Naomi Osaka: Osaka is the only player in the draw not named Iga or Coco to have previously won the China Open, which she did back in 2019. A tough match against Pegula (1-1 H2H) likely awaits in Round 4, however, and so even just reaching the finals of this seven-round event would be an impressive feat with such a challenging draw since she'd also likely need a win over Swiatek in the semifinals to do it.
Amanda Anisimova: Runner-up finishes at both Wimbledon and the US Open have the American currently sitting with a career-high ranking of No. 4. The question at hand is whether or not she has enough left in the tank to finish out the season playing at the same high level. As for Beijing, her competition won't likely become threatening until a potential Round 4 matchup against No. 13 seed Karolina Muchova.
Qinwen Zheng: The No. 7 seed will have the home country support for every match she plays, but perhaps more importantly, she was able to make a deep run to the semifinals last year in Beijing and her career trajectory has continued to point upward ever since. A potential match against No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva looms in the quarterfinals, though Zheng already defeated Andreeva during her semifinal run last year.
Sleepers to Win the 2025 China Open
Bianca Andreescu: The Canadian possesses an elite level of play but has not stayed healthy ever since her unexpected US Open title back in 2019, and in fact, she's currently recovering from an ankle injury that prevented her from playing in this year's US Open. A Round 1 match against Magda Linette awaits her in Beijing, and if that goes smoothly, she could cause some havoc in her area of the draw as an unseeded player with much more talent than her current ranking of No. 181 would suggest.
Barbora Krejcikova: The unseeded 29-year-old is coming off quarterfinal appearances at both the US Open and last week's Korea Open. Despite not truly challenging for those titles, she's showing a consistent level of play of late and will be heavily favored in her first-round match against Anna Blinkova (3-0 H2H) before the potential foes get stiffer, but wins are plausible, against the likes of No. 9 Ekaterina Alexandrova (2-3 H2H), No. 20 Elise Mertens (0-0 H2H), and No. 8 Elena Rybakina (3-0 H2H).
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