Rybakina is the top seed at the China Open and will start in the second round

The WTA has published the draw for the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. Elena Rybakina is the top seed, followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva. As the top seed, Rybakina has a first-round bye and in the second round will face the winner of the match between Yuliia Starodubtseva and Alina Charaeva. The main draw starts on 30 September, and Rybakina will play her first match no earlier than Friday, 2 October. Belinda Bencic, the ninth seed, is in her quarter - a potential quarterfinal opponent. It is Rybakina's first tournament since winning the US Open: on 18 September she withdrew from the Billie Jean King Cup with a left ankle injury, and on 26 September the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation cancelled her press conference in Almaty on doctors' advice. On 27 September it was reported that she had arrived in Beijing. In the WTA rankings of 28 September Rybakina remains world No. 1 with 9,901 points, more than two thousand points ahead of Sabalenka.