World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, the elder stateswoman Venus Williams (USA) and other women’s tennis stars will compete at this year’s Hana Bank Korea Open on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.
The Hana Bank Korea Open will take place Oct. 7-15 at the Olympic Park tennis courts in Seoul, South Korea.
Korean-American Pegula, who is in the prime of her career this year, will return to the Korea Open for the first time in four years since 2019.
After falling in the first round of the 2019 tournament, she is one of the favorites to win the title this time around.
Pegula has been on a steady rise this year, winning titles in Doha and Montreal on the WTA 1000 Series. She has reached the quarterfinals of two majors this season (Australian Open and Wimbledon).
Pegula will also hold a fan meeting during the tournament.
Coria Open ‘regular’ Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) will also be competing in this year’s event.
Ostapenko is no stranger to the Korean Open, having participated in the tournament for three consecutive years since 2017.
After winning the French Open in June 2017, Ostapenko gained a lot of attention when she competed at the Korea Open in September that year.
Williams, the oldest active player at 43, will be joined by defending champion Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) and Beatriz Adad Maia (Brazil).
The Korea Open is the only WTA Tour event in South Korea, which began in 2004 and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Over the years, many Korean players have gotten the chance to challenge the professional stage through the Korea Open.
It is also an important stage for Korean fans, who don’t have many opportunities to watch advanced tennis at home, to witness the brilliant play of major tournament winners.
The Korea Open will be held as a WTA 250 event until this year, but from next year, it will be upgraded to a WTA 500 event, which will attract more big-name players to Seoul.
Tickets can be purchased on Hana Bank’s mobile app Hana OneQ from 6 p.m. on the 14th. 스포츠토토