Tokyo 2026 WTA 500 Preview: Seeds, First-Round Matches and Odds

Defending champion absent

The 2025 champion, Belinda Bencic, is not in the 2026 draw. At Tokyo 2025, Bencic beat Linda Noskova in the final 6-2 6-3.

Tokyo 2026 is a WTA 500 tournament on hard courts. Play began on 24 October 2026, and 24 players are in the singles main draw so far.

Seeds and the Race

Elise Mertens is seeded 5 and ranked No. 14 in the WTA ranking of 26 October 2026 with 2,540 points. Sorana Cirstea is seeded 6 and ranked No. 16 with 2,386 points.

Naomi Osaka is seeded 7 and ranked No. 18 with 2,287 points. Alexandra Eala is seeded 8 and ranked No. 19 with 2,241 points.

In the WTA Race of 19 October 2026, Elise Mertens is No. 14 with 2,540 points. That is 1,814 points behind Linda Noskova, who holds the last qualifying place.

Wild cards and qualifiers

The wild cards in the main draw are Moyuka Uchijima, Mika Stojsavljevic, Himeno Sakatsume and Mia Pohankova.

The qualifiers are Alycia Parks, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Daria Kasatkina, Tereza Valentova, Maya Joint and Yulia Putintseva.

Seeds in first-round action

Naomi Osaka plays Jasmine Paolini, and the betting market makes Osaka a 73% favourite. Paolini leads the head-to-head 1-0 in our match records.

Sorana Cirstea meets qualifier Maya Joint, with the betting market giving Cirstea a 71% chance. The two are level at 1-1 in our match records.

Alexandra Eala plays wild card Mika Stojsavljevic, and the betting market makes Eala an 85% favourite. They have never met in our match records.

Close calls and other matches

Two first-round matches are close to even in the betting market. It gives Cristina Bucsa 52% and Diane Parry 48%, with Parry ahead 1-0 in our match records. It gives Ekaterina Alexandrova 53% and Ann Li 47%, with Alexandrova ahead 3-1.

Maria Sakkari is a 58% favourite against qualifier Yulia Putintseva in the betting market. Sakkari leads their head-to-head 2-1 in our match records.

Leylah Annie Fernandez is a 79% favourite against wild card Himeno Sakatsume, and Tereza Valentova is a 67% favourite against wild card Mia Pohankova. Valentova and Pohankova have never met in our match records.

Tournament history

Our archive has 146 finals of Tokyo up to 2025. Martina Navratilova has the most titles among them, 7.