Four top-10 players feature in the 2025 Pan Pacific Open entry list, but it remains to be seen if they will compete while former world No 1 Naomi Osaka will also feature in her home event.
The WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo marks the sixth week of the Asian swing as the main draw will get underway on October 20 with the final to be staged on Sunday, October 26 – and it has a host of big-name players, with Jasmine Paolini set to be the top seed.
Zheng Qinwen won the trophy in 2024 after beating Sofia Kenin in the final, but she won’t defend her title as she has withdrawn due to injury – and several other players could follow suit.
How many players will feature at the Pan Pacific Open?
The 40th edition of the event will take place at the Ariake Coliseum and Ariake Tennis Forest Park and it is a 28-player WTA 500 singles draw event.
Four players will receive wildcards, one has used a protected ranking to enter, six will come through qualifying and the rest will enter via their WTA Rankings.
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Two of the four wildcards have been confirmed with 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu and Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima getting the nod, although Raducanu is likely to go straight into the main draw based on her ranking due to withdrawals.
2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova has entered by using her protected ranking.
The top eight players will be seeded with the top four receiving byes into the second round.
About the seeds…
For now, world No 8 Jasmine Paolini is the top seed as she is the highest-ranked player in the draw with Elena Rybakina (No 9), Ekaterina Alexandrova (No 10) and Clara Tauson (No 12) completing the quartet who will receive byes.
The rest of the seeds are Belinda Bencic, Naomi Osaka, Linda Noskova and Diana Schnaider.
Other big-name players who have been confirmed Karolina Muchova, Victoria Mboko, Leylah Fernandez and Kenin.
Who has withdrawn from the tournament?
World No 5 Jessica Pegula was set to be the top seed, but she pulled out after securing her ticket to the year-end WTA Finals in Riyadh and Paolini and or Elena Rybakina could follow if either of them qualifies for the season-ending tournament this week.
Emma Navarro and Daria Kasatkina are the other top 20 stars who have withdrawn.
When will the draw for the WTA 500 event take place?
The draw is set for Saturday, October 18 with first-round matches starting two days later.
2025 Pan Pacific Entry List
1. Jasmine Paolini
2. Elena Rybakina
3. Ekaterina Alexandrova
4. Clara Tauson
5. Belinda Bencic
6. Naomi Osaka
7. Linda Noskova
8. Diana Schnaider
Wildcards
Emma Raducanu
Moyuka Uchijima
TBC
TBC
Protected Ranking
Marketa Vondrousova
Other players
Karolina Muchova
Elise Mertens
Victoria Mboko
Leylah Fernandez
Sofia Kenin
Dayana Yastremska
Anna Kalinskaya
AloJapan.com