The Wuhan Open is the final WTA 1000 event of the 2026 season, but the tournament has been hit hard as world No 1 Elena Rybakina and defending champion Coco Gauff won’t feature.

Gauff beat fellow American Jessica Pegula in the 2025 final as she won the WTA 1000 event without dropping a set, but there will be no repeat of that final this year as the two-time Grand Slam winner has withdrawn from the event due to fatigue.

Rybakina, who lost her opening match at last week’s China Open, is struggling with a foot injury, handing world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka the top-seed status with world No 3 Pegula headlining the bottom half of the draw.

With Gauff out, Sabalenka is the only former Wuhan Open champion in the draw as the Belarusian won titles in 2018, 2019 and 2024.

How Many Players Are In The Main Draw

Unlike the China Open that features 96 players, the Wuhan event is a 56-player singles main draw event with the 16 highest-ranked players in the WTA Rankings at the cutoff date seeded.

Four players will gain entry thanks to a wildcard, eight will be added after the qualifying tournament and the rest will feature thanks to their position in the WTA Rankings.

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Only the top eight seeds receive byes and they are Sabalenka, Pegula, Mirra Andreeva, Linda Noskova, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Muchova, Iga Swiatek and Marta Kostyuk.

Although the other eight seeds – Belinda Bencic, Iva Jovic, Diana Shnaider, Sorana Cirstea, Alexandra Eala, Elise Mertens, Jasmine Paolini and Maja Chwalinska – don’t have byes, being seeded means they will avoid the top eight early on.

World No 18 Eala returns to the WTA Tour after missing the China Open due to her involvement in the Asian Games.

Which WTA Stars Won’t Play In Wuhan?

The list is quite long with world No 1 Rybakina and last year’s champion Gauff joined by fellow seeds world No 15 Victoria Mboko and No 17 Amanda Anisimova.

As things stand, there are 11 withdrawals with Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka and Emma Navarro also on the list.

When Is The Draw?

The draw is set for Saturday, 10 October at 16:00 local time (08:00 GMT).

Points And Prize Money On Offer…

The total prize pool for the 2026 Wuhan Open is $4,088,211. Last year Gauff walked away with a cheque of $596,000 for winning the title while runner-up Pegula received $351,003.