The Hana Bank Korea Open, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, will be held on Friday for nine days. The Korea Open is also called the “Hangawi Classic” as it is held every year around Chuseok. This time, the Korean Open has been upgraded to the “WTA 500” rating, and the total prize money has been raised to 1 million U.S. dollars. The winner will be given 142,000 dollars along with 500 points.
In the hard-court format of the Korea Open, the singles preliminary round will automatically feature 20 participants and four wild cards. The cut for the finals is ranked 47th in the world. If the team wins two consecutive rounds in the preliminary round, it can qualify for the finals. The preliminary round will be held from July 14 to 15. The finals will be held from July 16 to 22.
Jang Soo-jung (29, Daegu City Hall) and Baek Da-yeon (22, NH Nonghyup Bank), who are ranked the highest in Korea, are superior as Korean wild cards.
In particular, Emma Raducanu (21, 72nd, England), who rose to stardom by winning the U.S. Open in 2021 when she was 18 years and 10 months old, visited Seoul for the first time in two years. Attention is focusing on whether Raducanu, who also has a strong fan base in Korea, will ease her disappointment in the semifinals of the 2022 tournament this time.
Yekaterina Alexandrova (30th, 31st, Russia), the 2022 Korean Open singles champion, is also considered a “dark horse” to reclaim the title.
Karolina Mujoba (28, 52nd, Czech Republic), the winner of the 2019 Korea Open, is also on the list of participants. Sloane Stephens (31, 63rd, USA), the winner of the 2017 U.S. Open, has confirmed her participation.
The Korea Open has been a gateway to ranking first in the world. Since the WTA first tallied the world ranking on Nov. 3, 1975, a total of 29 players have been ranked No. 1. Among them, six players have been ranked No. 1 by Maria Sharapova of Russia (37) and others. Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Venus Williams of the U.S. have visited the Korea Open since becoming world No. 1.
Unfortunately, there are not many Korean players. “As the Korea Open has been upgraded to the WTA 500, world-class players will participate,” said Joo Won-hong, co-chairman of the Korea Open organizing committee. “We will launch a long-term project to discover players and match their skills to global levels so that many Korean players can participate.” 스포츠토토
Meanwhile, is it because players’ fatigue accumulated in the latter half of the season? Jessica Pegula of the U.S., the defending champion, announced her absence from the championship due to abnormalities in her ribs. Pegula is known to have pain when she serves. Contrary to fans’ expectations that Pegula, the “half-Korean” Pegula will win her first consecutive Korean Open title, she announced her absence due to abnormalities in her ribs. She is reportedly holding fan signing events including meetings with fans in Korea sometime this year.
Even world No. 1 Iga Cibiontech of Poland abruptly withdrew her participation due to poor condition on the eve of the event. “My physical condition has not returned to normal since the U.S. Open. I can’t go to Seoul anymore,” Cibiontech said on Sunday. “I want to visit Seoul next year and have a great game in front of my Korean fans.”
