The 2024 Budapest Open, commonly known as the Hungarian Grand Prix, is one of four WTA clay-court tournaments that will be played after Wimbledon and will run from July 15th to 21st.
This tournament was incepted in 1996, with Romania's Ruxandra Dragomir winning the inaugural staging. After a seven-year hiatus between 2014 and 2020, it became part of the WTA calendar again in 2021. Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva became the champion.
Last year, Maria Timofeeva sensationally lifted her first WTA title. The Russian, who was 19 at the time and ranked World No. 246, became the first lucky loser since Coco Gauff in 2019 Linz to win a Tour-level trophy on the women's circuit after she defeated Kateryna Baindl in the final.
The entry list for the 2024 edition has been released, and it is pretty stacked with top names compared to 12 months ago. Timofeeva, who broke the Top 100 this year, will return to defend her crown.
But she has a mountain to climb, given the strength and depth of the players competing, four of whom are ranked in the world's Top 50. Daria Kasatkina is the highest-ranked player in the field and will be joined by Ekaterina Alexandrova, Diana Shnaider, and the 2021 champion Putintseva.
Nadia Podoroska, Viktoriya Tomova, Sara Sorribes Tormo, and Elina Avanesyan will each look to translate their previous success on clay at this tournament. American Bernarda Pera hoisted the title in Budapest in 2022 and has met the cut-off entry for the main draw this year.
Varvara Gracheva, Laura Siegemund, and Taylor Townsend will also play. Six players must qualify for the main draw, while four more will be granted wild cards.
This year's Budapest Open will be played in the build-up to the Paris Olympics, and some of the players who will compete at Roland Garros in late July will use it as a preparatory tournament. Be sure to check the entry list for this WTA 250 event down below.
| Seed | Player | Entry Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daria Kasatkina | 14 |
| 2 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | 20 |
| 3 | Yulia Putintseva | 41 |
| 4 | Anhelina Kalinina | 47 |
| 5 | Diana Shnaider | 49 |
| 6 | Xiyu Wang | 51 |
| 7 | Magdalena Frech | 52 |
| 8 | Sara Sorribes Tormo | 57 |
| Viktoriya Tomova | 63 | |
| Nadia Podoroska | 64 | |
| Varvara Gracheva | 69 | |
| Laura Siegemund | 71 | |
| Moyuka Uchijima | 72 | |
| Elina Avanesyan | 74 | |
| Tamara Korpatsch | 77 | |
| Anna Karolina Schmiedlova | 80 | |
| Taylor Townsend | 82 | |
| Daria Saville | 85 | |
| Maria Timofeeva | 98 | |
| Rebeka Masarova | 100 | |
| Bernarda Pera | 103 |