The wave of withdrawals still leaves plenty to watch; which of the three will qualify for the year-end finals the fastest?

Despite the withdrawal of several top contenders including Anisimova, Zheng Qinwen, Svitolina, Kasatkina, Navarro, Krejcikova, and Badosa from this year's WTA500 Ningbo competition, the updated main draw indicates that the 2025 Ningbo tournament remains highly engaging.

The top eight seeds in the women's singles are Andreyeva, Paolini, Rybakina, Alexandrova, Tauson, Bencic, Schneider, and Samsonova, all well-known and highly regarded players among fans.

Meanwhile, the top eight seeds expected at the neighboring WTA500 Tokyo tournament include Pegula, Paolini, Rybakina, Alexandrova, Tauson, Navarro, Bencic, and Naomi Osaka, showing little difference in the lead player lineups between the two events.

The biggest highlight in the upcoming WTA500 Ningbo main draw is the battle among Andreyeva, Paolini, and Rybakina for the final two singles spots at the 2025 WTA year-end championships. Pegula has already secured one spot thanks to her excellent performance reaching the final at this year’s WTA1000 Wuhan Open.

Among the three, Rybakina faces the greatest pressure; after being stopped at the quarterfinals in Wuhan, she must reach at least the semifinals in Ningbo to gain points, whereas Paolini faces no significant points defense concerns.

Paolini’s outstanding stamina displayed during this year’s China season has impressed many fans. Not only did she compete fully in the Billie Jean King Cup, but she also reached the singles quarterfinals and won doubles at the China Open, advanced to the semifinals in Wuhan, and is scheduled to play in Ningbo and Tokyo next. Born in 1996, her physical endurance is indeed remarkable.

Returning to the upcoming Ningbo tournament draw, the top four seeds receive byes directly into the round of 16. Among the highly anticipated first-round matches, local wildcard Zhu Lin will face British Grand Slam champion Raducanu.

Another wildcard, Wang Xiyu, will meet the tournament’s 7th seed Schneider in the first round; Wang Xinyu, who exited early in Wuhan and was emotional at the press conference, will compete in a domestic derby against wildcard Yuan Yue for a spot in the singles round of 16.

Veteran Zhang Shuai also received a valuable main draw wildcard. Her luck in the draw is average, facing Russian star Kudermetova in the first round, with the winner set to challenge the 2nd seed Paolini.

It is worth noting that this year’s Ningbo tournament once again features several Chinese player pairings, including Jiang Xinyu/Zhan Haoqing, Wang Xinyu/Zheng Saisai, Wang Xiyu/Xu Yifan, Guo Hanyu/Panova, Vondrousova/Zhang Shuai, and Tang Qianhui/Eikeri.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)