The 38th edition of the Japan Open will take place at the heart of the country's capital city Tokyo in the final week of September.
Main draw action will run from September 25th till October 1st, with 32 singles players looking to lift the penultimate WTA 500 tournament on the calendar. The Japan Open is one of the oldest Tour-level events in tennis - first played during the WTA's inception year in 1973 and which was won by the trailblazer Billie Jean King.
This year, the organizers have worked tooth and nail to attract the WTA's finest. Poland's Iga Swiatek is the tournament's major coup. She was announced among the first participants back in August. Even though she is set to lose her No. 1 ranking after the US Open, she'll be determined to end the season on a flourish during her first trip to Tokyo.
Swiatek will be joined by American No. 1 Jessica Pegula and Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina who recently punched her ticket for the season-ending WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. Seven of the world's Top 10 players will travel to Tokyo with the likes of Maria Sakkari, Marketa Vondrousova, and Karolina Muchova set to play there for the first time.
Liudmila Samsonova will return to defend her crown from 12 months ago when she defeated China's Qinwen Zheng. After a stellar autumn last year, Samsonova will attempt to end her title drought and become the first player to retain the Tokyo title since 2017.
The Russian continent will be well represented with Daria Kasatkina, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Veronika Kudermetova joining Samsonova. The other former champion of the Japan Open is Karolina Pliskova who will play in her seventh edition of the event.
Two home wild cards have been named so far, with former Top 60 player Nao Hibino and Moyuka Uchijima being the beneficiaries, and with no fewer than six players expected to join from the qualifying rounds during the weekend preceding the main draw start.
2023 Japan Open Tokyo WTA Entry List:
| Seed | Name | Entry Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iga Swiatek | 1 |
| 2 | Jessica Pegula | 3 |
| 3 | Elena Rybakina | 4 |
| 4 | Caroline Garcia | 7 |
| 5 | Maria Sakkari | 8 |
| 6 | Marketa Vondrousova | 9 |
| 7 | Karolina Muchova | 10 |
| 8 | Barbora Krejcikova | 12 |
| Belinda Bencic | 13 | |
| Daria Kasatkina | 14 | |
| Liudmila Samsonova | 15 | |
| Veronika Kudermetova | 16 | |
| Ekaterina Alexandrova | 20 | |
| Donna Vekic | 22 | |
| Karolina Pliskova | 25 | |
| (WC) Top 20 | ||
| (WC) Top 20 | ||
| Nao Hibino (WC) | ||
| Moyuka Uchijima (WC) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (Q) | ||
| (SE) |
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