Newly-crowned US Open champion Iga Swiatek (above) of Poland will headline a stellar international player field featuring 16 of the world’s Top 20 women’s professional tennis players at next month’s inaugural San Diego Open WTA 500 Tournament.
The Hologic WTA Tour event will take place Saturday, Oct. 8 through Sunday, Oct. 16 at Barnes Tennis Center located at 4490 W Point Loma Blvd.
Swiatek, the No. 1 player in the world, won her first US Open singles title, her second major title of 2022, and third Grand Slam overall, last week at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., as she defeated fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the final.
The inaugural San Diego Open WTA 500 player field will include the following competitors:
(Listed by WTA Ranking)
1    Iga Swiatek, Poland                    12  Garbiñe Muguruza, Spain
3    Anett Kontaveit, Estonia            13  Veronika Kudermetova, Russia
4    Paula Badosa, Spain                  15  Jelena Ostapenko Latvia
5    Jessica Pegula, United States   16  Danielle Collins, United States
7    Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus         17  Madison Keys, United States
8    Coco Gauff, United States         18  Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil
10  Caroline Garcia, France             19  Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
11  Daria Kasatkina, Russia             20  Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic
American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open singles champion, received a direct entry into the San Diego Open WTA 500 main draw with a WTA special ranking.
“I’m looking forward to playing in San Diego again. I remember playing at Barnes Tennis Center a few years ago during the USTA Girls’ Nationals. It’s a very nice facility and the fans were super supportive,” said American Coco Gauff, who is ranked No. 8 in the WTA singles rankings. “It’s always great to have tournaments at home in the US. Hopefully, I can find a day to visit the incredible San Diego beaches.”
“With so many Top 20 players entered in the tournament, this will be one of the strongest player fields for a professional tennis event in San Diego sports history,” said tournament director Ryan Redondo. “We are expecting large crowds each day. Our 2,000-seat main stadium will be filled to capacity. I urge fans to purchase tickets as soon as possible.”
The tournament will offer $757,000 in prize money and will have a 32-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw. A 24-player qualifying draw will also be played with six qualifiers advancing to the main draw. Qualifying rounds will be played Oct. 8-9 with Main Draw matches starting Oct. 10 and concluding with the singles and doubles final on Oct. 16.
Tickets for the inaugural San Diego Open WTA 500 are on sale now at https://barnessdopen.com/.

The San Diego Open WTA 500 Tournament marks the return of the WTA to San Diego County, which has a rich history of hosting top-level women’s tennis events dating back to 1971. The most recent WTA tournament was played in Carlsbad in 2015.
WTA Grand Slam champions who have won titles in San Diego include Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Conchita Martínez, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Mary Pierce, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Samantha Stosur.

Photo from Iga Swiatek Gorjeo