Two Grand Slam champions will make their debuts at the Hobart International as the 2026 entry list was announced Wednesday, featuring nine top 50 players.
Emma Raducanu, 2021 US Open champion, and Barbora Krejcikova, 2024 Wimbledon and 2021 Roland Garros champion, headline Tasmania’s premier event. The WTA 250 will be held from Jan. 12-17 in the lead-up to the Australian Open the following week.
Hobart International
Raducanu, ranked No. 29 in the world, will be the second-highest player at the tournament behind No. 20 Elise Mertens. Mertens is a two-time champion of Hobart, winning consecutive titles in 2017 and 2018.
Rounding out the top five seeds is defending champion McCartney Kessler, Iva Jovic and Ann Li. The former defeated Mertens 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 last January to win her second career WTA Tour title, and Kessler looks to win consecutive titles since Mertens eight years ago.
Mertens, Krejcikova and Raducanu join Eva Lys, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Solana Sierra as players who will make the trip to Hobart after competing at the United Cup to begin the season.
The United States’ Peyton Stearns, Indonesia’s Janice Tjen and Poland’s Magdalena Frech will be in the mix following their breakthrough 2025 seasons. Stearns and Tjen will travel to Hobart after playing the first 250 of the season in Auckland the week prior.
The last three direct entries into the field were Olga Danilovic, Sonay Kartal and Antonia Ruzic with wild cards to be announced in the coming weeks.