1000
With “personal matters” as her excuse, world number one and reigning champion Iga Swiatek withdrew from the Beijing 1000 WTA tournament on Friday.
Before the competition, which gets underway on September 25, the 23-year-old Pole announced in a statement, “I’m forced to withdraw from the China Open in Beijing.”
Liudmila Samsonova of Russia lost to Swiatek in the 2023 final held in the Chinese capital.
Out of the eight WTA 1000 events this season, Swiatek, the winner of the French Open, has won four.
Additionally, she pulled out of the current WTA tournament in Seoul, which would have played her first tournament since losing to Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Aryna Sabalenka, the current US Open and Australian Open winner, will start as the top seed in Beijing.
