The 2017 Pan Pacific Open has a number of high-profile players, but health or rest concerns might ultimately keep them from playing. Watch for withdrawals and changes to the field in the coming days in Tokyo.
The competition in the 56-player main draw begins on Monday, September 18.
Event Details
Event: Pan Pacific Open
Category: WTA Premier level
Date: September 18 – 24, 2017
Location: Ariake Coliseum – Tokyo, Japan
The 2017 Pan Pacific Open is the start of the final leg of the tennis year for the pros who did not feel the need to go to Quebec. Players who go to Japan then continue to China and try to make a surge up the rankings.
With a prize money allotment of $890,000, this is a great way for players to make bank at the start of the Asian swing. Bigger and more prestigious tournaments await in China and at the WTA Finals. The latter part of the season, when some players are tired, gives many professionals a chance to recover if they have not had the kind of season they hoped for.
Points
Champion – 470
Runner-up – 305
Semifinal – 185
Quarterfinal – 100
Round of 16 – 55
Round of 32 – 30
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016: Christina McHale def. Katerina Siniakova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2015: Yanina Wickmayer def. Magda Linette 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
2014: Samantha Stosur def. Zarina Diyas 7-6(9-7), 6-3
2013: Samantha Stosur def. Eugenie Bouchard 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
2012: Heather Watson def. Chang Kai-chen 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(7-4)
Player Info:
In an all-American U.S. Open semifinal between Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe in New York, Keys played like a woman obsessed. She just didn’t win. She dominated. Keys required only 66 minutes to wrap up the contest. Going into the first Grand Slam final of her career, Keys is a newer, better version of herself.
Keys has accepted the wild card to play in Japan but there are chances she might opt out given her U.S. Open final. If the American decides to play, she will be the top seed and a firm contender for the title. However, the challenge for Keys will be her physical fitness more than her opponents.
Samantha Stosur said her right hand, which she injured at the French Open in June, was not strong enough to withstand match conditions at Flushing Meadows. The 2011 U.S. Open champion also had withdrawn from Wimbledon. The hand injury has caused Stosur’s ranking to drop outside top 40. She is now ranked third among Australian players behind Daria Gavrilova (20) and Ashleigh Barty (43) with her ranking at 44. Stosur had also previously backed out from two tournaments last month in Cincinnati and New Haven in the hope that her hand would be rested enough to enable her to play in New York.
Stosur is 19-14 this year with a title in Strasbourg, France. If the Australian is fit enough, she’ll try to improve on her record and could realistically pose a significant challenge to the top contenders. However, we’ll have to wait until the first ball to know her status.
Naomi Osaka started her U.S. Open campaign by toppling the defending champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1. The Japanese then backed up her upset win with a close three-set victory over 90th ranked Denisa Allertova in the second round. Just when it seemed she would go deep into the Slam, Osaka fell to a resurgent Kaia Kanepi in a close three-set battle in the third round. This is not the toughest field she has faced on a general level, but specific opponents could give her problems, given the way she plays.
Alison Riske has lost in the first round of the U.S. Open in each of the past four years since making the fourth round in 2013, the only time she’s made it to the fourth round of a major. This year she had CoCo Vandeweghe in all sorts of trouble but couldn’t sustain the lead to the very end. Riske raced to a 3-1 lead in the deciding set but then shockingly lost five of the final seven games. Vandeweghe is proving to be Riske’s kryptonite– she also lost to Vandeweghe in the Wimbledon third round.
Good news for Riske is that Vandeweghe will be nowhere near when she plays this week. Riske is 19-19 this season but will try to end the year with a positive win-loss record.
Ariake Coliseum
The facility was ahead of its time, built in 1987 with a retractable roof, something a lot of tennis facilities did not consider until recent years in this century. The main court has a capacity of 10,000 seats, and there are other side courts with ample seating as well. This arena makes Tokyo one of the more popular tour stops below the Premier 5 level.
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