Elena Rybakina, Maja Chwalinska and Alex Eala are all set to star at the 2026 Pan Pacific Open, and the draw for the WTA 500 event is now out.
Main draw action on the outdoor hard courts of the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo will get underway on Monday 26 October and will conclude on Sunday 1 November.
This year’s Pan Pacific Open will be the 52nd edition of the prestigious tournament in Tokyo, and it is the final WTA 500 tournament on the 2026 calendar.
Belinda Bencic is the reigning champion, having beaten Linda Noskova in the 2025 final, and the Swiss star is set to defend her crown.
Six players have withdrawn from Tokyo: Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek, Marta Kostyuk, Iva Jovic and Anna Kalinskaya.
The Tokyo draw features 28 players, including eight seeds: Elena Rybakina, Maja Chwalinska, Diana Shnaider, Belinda Bencic, Elise Mertens, Sorana Cirstea, Naomi Osaka and Alex Eala). The top four seeds receive a first round bye.
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World No 1 Rybakina is the only top 10 player in the draw, and she will begin her campaign with a second round match against either Maria Sakkari or a qualifier.
The three-time Grand Slam champion is then projected to face fifth seed Mertens in the quarter-finals and No 4 seed Bencic in the semi-finals.
Defending champion Bencic will play either Ann Li or Ekaterina Alexandrova in her opening match, while she could meet sixth seed Cirstea in the last eight.
In the bottom half, No 2 seed Chwalinska will face either Wang Xinyu or a qualifier in her first match.
The Polish star, who won the Wuhan Open last week, could face seventh seed Naomi Osaka or the unseeded Jasmine Paolini in the quarter-finals.
Osaka and Paolini will meet in a blockbuster first round match, with the winner to play wildcard Mia Pohankova or a qualifier in the second round.
The player who progresses from the quarter featuring Chwalinska, Osaka and Paolini is projected to meet No 3 seed Shnaider or No 8 seed Eala in the semi-finals.
Shnaider will begin her campaign with a second round match against Nikola Bartunkova or a qualifier.
Eala will face world No 308 Mika Stojsavljevic, a 17-year-old British wildcard who is the lowest-ranked player in the draw, in the opening round.
The Filipina could then play Talia Gibson or a qualifier in the second round before a potential quarter-final showdown with Shnaider — who she lost to at the Ningbo Open this week.
2026 Pan Pacific Open projected quarter-finals
- Elena Rybakina (1) vs Elise Mertens (5)
- Belinda Bencic (4) vs Sorana Cirstea (6)
- Alex Eala (8) vs Diana Shnaider (3)
- Naomi Osaka (7) vs Maja Chwalinska (2)
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