Korea Open 2022: Women's draw, schedule, players, prize money breakdown & more
The 18th edition of the Korea Open will be held from September 19-25, with qualifying rounds already underway. The WTA 250 event is one of two tournaments taking place this week, with the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo being the other.
2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko headlines the field as the top seed. Ekaterina Alexandrova, Magda Linette and Zhu Lin round out the top four seeds. 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu is also in the mix.
Former Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard has also entered the tournament using a protected ranking. The Canadian is currently on the comeback trail and has performed well in her previous tournament, the Chennai Open. She made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Nadia Podoroska in three sets. 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria is another player to watch out for.
With a fairly competitive draw, here's all the information you need to know about the 2022 Korea Open:
What is the Korea Open?
The Korea Open is a relatively new stop on the WTA tour, with the debut edition taking place in 2004. Maria Sharapova was crowned the very first winner of the tournament, defeating Marta Domachowska in straight sets.
The tournament has mostly been classified as a WTA 250 event, with the exception of last year's edition, when it was downgraded to the WTA 125 level. Plenty of high-profile players have played here throughout the years. Aside from Sharapova, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Karolina Pliskova and Agnieszka Radwanska are some of the other former champions.
Venue
The tournament will take place at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul, South Korea.
Players
Two of the tournament's biggest stars have landed in the top half of the draw as Jelena Ostapenko and Emma Raducanu could potentially meet in the semifinals. They'll begin their campaigns against BoYoung Jeong and Moyuka Uchijima respectively.
Chennai Open finalists Magda Linette and Linda Fruhvirtova are the other big names in this section. Katie Swan, who recently reached the semifinals in Chennai, is another player to watch out for. 2022 French Open doubles champion Kristina Mladenovic is also in this section.
Main draw in Seoul (WTA 250), where Jelena Ostapenko, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Magda Linette and Zhu Lin are the top seeds.
Notable 1Rs:
Raducanu-Uchijima
Maria-Bouchard https://t.co/MmcWtxaD7L
Ekaterina Alexandrova headlines the bottom half of the draw and is up against Asia Muhammad in the first round. Eugenie Bouchard was handed a tough opener as she'll take on 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria. Fifth seed Varvara Gracheva and defending champion Zhu Lin are also in this half of the draw.
Schedule
The qualifying rounds will take place on September 17-18, with the main-draw action commencing on Monday, September 19. The first and second round matches will be played from Monday to Thursday. The quarterfinals are to be held on Friday, followed by the semifinals and the final on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Prize Money
The total prize money for the 2022 Korea Open is $251,750. The women's singles winner will take home a cheque worth $31,000 and 280 ranking points. Here's a detailed breakdown of the prize money and ranking points:
Where to watch
Viewers in the US and UK can watch the Korea Open live on the following channels and sites:
USA: Viewers in the United States can catch all the action on the Tennis Channel.
UK: Fans in the UK can watch the proceedings live on Amazon Prime Video.