The 2024 Hong Kong Open, taking place next week, has one of the stronger draws for a WTA 250 tournament this season, with Simona Halep among those set to compete.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Halep officially returned to the sport in March this year after having her ban for taking a banned substance reduced from four years to nine months.
However, the Romanian could only play two tournaments at the Miami Open and a WTA 125k event on clay in Paris before an injury ruled her out for over four months, disrupting any chance of building momentum.
Halep returned at a WTA 125K tournament in Hong Kong. She got her first win since coming back in March against Arina Rodionova in the opening round before suffering a heavy defeat to Anna Blinkova.
The 2019 Wimbledon champion is in the first section of the bottom half at the Hong Kong Open. She will start her campaign against Yue Yuan, a Chinese hard court specialist who is likely to present a stiff challenge.
If she overcomes Yuan, Nao Hibino and Aliaksandra Sasnovich await in the round of 16, before a possible meeting against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinal.
Kenin had been enduring a dreadful 2024 season by her standards, including losing to the world No. 188 last week, but the former world No. 4 found inspiration at the Japan Open in Tokyo, reaching the final with the best tennis she has produced this year.
Katie Boulter is the highest-ranked player in the other section of the bottom half. This year's San Diego Open and Nottingham Open winner lost to Kenin in Tokyo in the semifinal.
Boulter has been drawn against Aoi Ito and would play Xiyu Wang or a qualifier in the next round. The talented Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva could meet Boulter in the quarterfinal.
Diana Shnaider is the No. 1 seed at this year's Hong Kong Open. Although the 20-year-old will not take any match for granted, she got a good draw on paper at the WTA 250 tournament.
This year's Canadian Open semifinalist, who has already won three events at the WTA 250 level this year, begins her quest for a fourth title against a qualifier. Priscilla Hon and Eudice Chong are Shnaider's second-round options if she gets there.
Cristina Bucsa, Suzan Lamens, Cody Wong, or a qualifier would await Shnaider in the quarterfinal. Her substantial improvements this season make the young star a significant favorite to reach the semifinal from that quarter.
However, a tough match could await Shnaider in the semifinal. Leylah Fernandez, who has beaten her twice on hard courts this year, including earlier this month at the Wuhan Open, is a possible matchup at that stage.
Fernandez is also the defending champion after winning a thrilling final against Katerina Siniakova last year. The Canadian begins her title defense against Heather Watson and will play Ana Bogdan or Kimberly Birrell in the next round if she beats Watson.
Lulu Sun could face Fernandez in the quarterfinal. The New Zealander created headlines by reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinal before having a run to the final of the WTA 500 tournament at the Monterrey Open.
| Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|
| Diana Shnaider [1] | Qualifier |
| Priscilla Hon | Eudice Chong |
| Qualifier | Suzan Lamens |
| Hong Yi Cody Wong | Cristina Bucsa [8] |
| Leylah Fernandez [3] | Heather Watson |
| Ana Bogdan | Kimberly Birrell |
| Margarita Betova | Qualifier |
| Sara Saito | Lulu Sun [5] |
| Yue Yuan [6] | Simona Halep |
| Nao Hibino | Aliaksandra Sasnovich |
| Qualifier | Sofia Kenin |
| Jessika Ponchet | Xinyu Wang [4] |
| Varvara Gracheva [7] | Qualifier |
| Bernarda Pera | Anastasia Zakharova |
| Xiyu Wang | Qualifier |
| Aoi Ito | Katie Boulter [2] |