Korea Open 2024 Preview: When is it, who is playing and what is the prize money?
The Asian hard court swing is about to get underway, with the newly upgraded Korea Open the standout tournament from the coming week.
And we, at Tennishead, have all you need to know about the new WTA 500 tournament:
When is the 2024 Korea Open?
The main draw of the Korea Open begins on Monday 16th September, with the tournament concluding on Sunday 22nd September.
Play on most days starts at 4am BST (12pm local time), and the qualifying draw will be conducted over the coming weekend (Saturday 14th September and Sunday 15th September).
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Where is the Korea Open held?
The Korea Open is held in the capital city of Seoul, South Korea, at the Olympic Park Tennis Centre that hosted the 1988 Summer Games.
Within the Olympic complex there are 14 tennis courts, headlined by the main stadium court that can hold a total of 10,000 spectators.
Who is playing at the 2024 Korea Open?
The event originally featured four top 10 players, but Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina and Emma Navarro have all since withdrawn.
However, there are still several top 20 ranked players remaining including Daria Kasatkina, Liudmila Samsonova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Diana Shnaider and Marta Kostyuk.
There is only one former champion featuring in this year’s draw in seventh seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who will be looking to replicate her success from two years ago.
Emma Raducanu will also make her return to action, following a disappointing first round defeat at the US Open.
Raducanu has received criticism for her lack of matchplay in recent months, but will make her second appearance in Seoul as part of a busier schedule in Asia.
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Wildcards have been awarded to home players Su-jeong Jang and Da-yeon Back.
How many ranking points are on offer at the 2024 Korea Open?
After being upgraded from a WTA 250 to WTA 500 level event, players will be even more motivated to go through the rounds and receive the more generous ranking points on offer.
Here is a breakdown of those ranking points on offer in Seoul next week:
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Q | Q2 | Q1 |
| Singles | 500 | 325 | 195 | 108 | 60 | 1 | 25 | 13 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doubles | 1 | — | — | — | — |
What is the prize money fo the 2024 Korea Open?
The Korea Open will offer $922,573 in total prize money this year, which is a whopping 356% increase on last year’s jackpot.
Here is how both singles and doubles players can earn a share of that:
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Singles | $142,000 | $87,655 | $51,205 | $24,910 | $13,590 | $9,820 | $6,603 | $3,380 |
| Doubles * | $47,390 | $28,720 | $16,430 | $8,510 | $5,140 | — | — | — |
*Per team
Previous winners of the Korea Open
Last year saw Jessica Pegula, who has a Korean mother, win the singles title after beating Yue Yuan in a straight sets final victory.
Pegula had signed up to defend her title this year, but elected to withdraw after a busy North American hard court summer.
Interestingly, in the 20 years of the Korea Open the women’s singles title has never been won twice by the same person.
Here are all of the past 10 singles and doubles champions in Seoul:
| Year | Singles Champion | Doubles Champions |
| 2013 (WTA 250) | Agnieszka Radwańska | Chan Chin-wei & Xu Yifan |
| 2014 | Karolina Pliskova | Lara Arruabarrena & Irina-Camelia Begu |
| 2015 | Irina-Camelia Begu | Lara Arruabarrena (2) & Andreja Klepac |
| 2016 | Lara Arruabarrena | Kirsten Flipkens & Johanna Larsson |
| 2017 | Jelena Ostapenko | Kiki Bertens & Johanna Larsson (2) |
| 2018 | Kiki Bertens | Choi Ji-Hee & Han Na-Lae |
| 2019 | Karolina Muchova | Lara Arruabarrena (3) & Tatjana Maria |
| 2020 | Not held due to the Covid-19 Pandemic | – |
| 2021 (Downgraded to a WTA 125 tournament) | Zhu Lin | Choi Ji-Hee (2) & Han Na-Lae (2) |
| 2022 (Upgraded back to a WTA 250 tournament) | Ekaterina Alexandrova | Kristina Mladenovic & Yanina Wickmayer |
| 2023 | Jessica Pegula | Marie Bouzkova & Bethanie Mattek-Sands |
How can you watch the 2024 Korea Open?
You can watch the Korea Open on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as in other parts of Europe, or on Tennis Channel in the United States of America.
For more information on how to watch the newly upgraded tournament in your location, visit the official WTA website here.
READ MORE – Emma Raducanu Schedule: What is next for the 2021 US Open champion?
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