Following the final WTA 1000 event of the season in Wuhan, the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz continues with the BNB Ningbo Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ningbo plays host to the penultimate WTA 500 event of the season, and 2026 marks its third edition of a tournament at the level. Defending champion and World No. 1 Elena Rybakina headlines the field as she builds up to the 2026 WTA Finals at Indian Wells.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here’s everything to know about this year’s Ningbo Open:<\/p>\n
What are the dates for each round?<\/p>\n
Main draw play from Ningbo begins Monday, October 19, and ends with the championships on Sunday, October 25. The doubles final will be held at 2:30 p.m. local time, with the singles final to follow, not before 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Time conversions:\u00a05 p.m. China Standard Time = 5 a.m. Eastern Time, 9 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time<\/p>\n
Singles<\/p>\n
First round:\u00a0October 19-20
Second round: October 21-22
Quarterfinals: October 23
Semifinals: October 24
Final: October 25<\/p>\n
Doubles<\/p>\n
First round: October 29-21
Quarterfinals: October 22-22
Semifinals: October 24
Final: October 25<\/p>\n
How big is the draw, and who are the top players in the field?<\/p>\n
Ningbo will feature a 28-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw. The top four singles players at the time of seeding will receive byes into the second round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Projected seeded players<\/p>\n
Elena Rybakina
\nElina Svitolina
\nIga Swiatek
\nMarta Kostyuk
\nIva Jovic
\nBelinda Bencic
\nDiana Shnaider
\nElise Mertens<\/p>\n
Remaining direct entrants: Sorana Cirstea, Alexandra Eala, Maja Chwalinska, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Marie Bouzkova, Sara Bejlek, Jasmine Paolini<\/p>\n
Wild cards:\u00a0To be determined<\/p>\n
Withdrawals:\u00a0Anna Kalinskaya (illness), Jessica Pegula\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moved into main draw:\u00a0Diane Parry, Leylah Fernandez<\/p>\n
Player list is subject to change<\/p>\n
Draw: The main draw will be determined at 7 p.m. local time on Saturday, October 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who are the defending champions?<\/p>\n
Rybakina won her 10th career singles title in Ningbo last season, defeating Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.<\/p>\n
At the time, she entered the tournament ranked No. 9, but her run in Ningbo was the foundation for her 2025 WTA Finals Riyadh title and a 2026 season that saw her win two more Grand Slam titles and take the No. 1 ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to Alexandrova, she also defeated Dayana Yastremska, Ajla Tomljanovic and Jasmine Paolini, the initial four wins of a 11-match winning streak to end her 2025 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Champions Reel: How Elena Rybakina won Ningbo 2025<\/p>\n
In doubles, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Liudmila Samsonova defeated Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani 5-7, 6-4, [10-8].\u00a0<\/p>\n
What are the prize money and ranking points at stake?<\/p>\n
The tournament will have a collective prize pool of approximately $1,206,446. As with all WTA 500 events, a maximum of 500 ranking points are available depending on how far a player or team advances in the tournament.<\/p>\n
Here’s a full breakdown of the prize money, in USD, and ranking points available in the draws.<\/p>\n
Singles
First round: 1 | $12,700
Second round: 60 | $17,795
Quarterfinal: 108 | $33,475
Semifinal: 195 | $66,003
Finalist: 325 | $114,500
Champion: 500 | $185,500<\/p>\n
Qualifying for main draw earns 25 ranking points.<\/p>\n
Doubles
First round: 1 | $6,800
Quarterfinal: 108 | $11,150
Semifinal: 195 | $21,720
Finalist: 325 | $37,400
Champion: 500 | $61,540<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the final WTA 1000 event of the season in Wuhan, the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,1602,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-804787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}