2024 Libema Open 's-Hertogenbosch WTA Entry List headlined by Jessica Pegula, Liudmila Samsonova and Bianca Andreescu

The Entry List has been confirmed for the WTA 250 tournament, the Libema Open 's-Hertogenbosch which famously opens the grass court season taking place between June 10 - June 16 2024.

It is a steady Entry List with it being the first week after Roland Garros. This means that for many, the onus is not on turning to grass just yet and instead many who lose early in Paris then enter tournament. This is evidenced by. a strong field at the Berlin Ladies Open later in the month.

But Rosmalen will host the first week alongside the Nottingham Open in the UK. There Ons Jabeur will lead the way, while in Holland it will be Jessica Pegula. The American has long been confirmed to play the grass court opener. Especially considering that she is unlikely to play at Roland Garros.

Despite this though, she is still currently entered for instance to play Strasbourg as of time of writing so whether or not she plays the grass court season early on is very much up for debate. She is also joined by a mainly Russian contingent with Ekaterina Alexandrova and Liudmila Samsonova leading others including Emma Navarro as part of the line-up. Also involved is Bianca Andreescu.

The former US Open champion returns in Rabat on the week starting May 20 and will start her comeback trail in the coming weeks. She has been out since last August and will hope to return to her best amid constant injury woes in the past 18 months. Since lifting the famous trophy at Flushing Meadows, the 23-year-old has failed to live up to her tag given after sealing the title.

One of the best players in the world at that point, she has not delivered mainly due to injury with glimmers soon eroded by issues. But is a popular player on the circuit with fans so is a welcome addition back to tour life. She has also entered smaller tournaments with her protected ranking to attempt to get matches in. This instead of going down the Emma Raducanu route of simply accepting wildcards.

But perhaps also at a different point in their career with Andreescu for instance having had her success and also her troubles with injury and then came back with wildcards. Now she moves down the totem pole, but is taking the route to grind and get back to her best.

The tournament itself was won by Ekaterina Alexandrova last year. She defeated Veronika Kudermetova in the final 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). Russian players have often dominated these events mainly due to previous Wimbledon bans meaning they couldn't play two years ago so could only be at these warm-ups.

Alexandrova has won it the last two years. She defeated Aryna Sabalenka in 2022 7-5, 6-0 and prior to that it was cancelled due to COVID. More recent winners include Simona Halep, Camila Giorgi, Coco Vandeweghe twice, Anett Kontaveit, Aleksandra Krunic and Alison Riske. Justine Henin has also won it twice.

Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce are also among the alumni who sealed the title in what is a classic stop off for Wimbledon. With Wimbledon firmly on the horizon, it will be a real test as to those top names wanting to return to form on the grass courts of SW19.

With not a lot of opportunity to play warm-up tournaments, it is a real leveller and one that the top names including Pegula, Kudermetova, Alexandrova and Andreescu for instance all have to get right early on with only a few tournaments available. Due to the nature of the stacked calendar too, this opportunity presents itself with not a lot of top names playing the early weeks. They instead will wait until Wimbledon in some cases. Sabalenka for instance playing in Berlin though does not buck that trend as usually an adopter of the Novak Djokovic not playing method. But this year, many will start earlier.

2023 - Ekaterina Alexandrova - Defeated Veronika Kudermetova with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final.

2022 - Ekaterina Alexandrova - Defeated Aryna Sabalenka with a score of 7-5, 6-0 in the final.

2019: Alison Riske (United States) - Defeated Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) with a score of 0-6, 7-6(7-3), 7-5 in the final.

2018: Aleksandra Krunić (Serbia) - Defeated Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) with a score of 6-7(0-7), 7-5, 6-1 in the final.

2017: Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) - Defeated Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Russia) with a score of 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

2016: CoCo Vandeweghe (United States) - Defeated Kristina Mladenovic (France) with a score of 7-5, 7-5 in the final.

2015: Camila Giorgi (Italy) - Defeated Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) with a score of 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

2014: Coco Vandeweghe (United States) - Defeated Zheng Jie (China) with a score of 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

2013: Simona Halep (Romania) - Defeated Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) with a score of 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

2012: Nadia Petrova (Russia) - Defeated Urszula Radwańska (Poland) with a score of 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

2011: Roberta Vinci (Italy) - Defeated Jelena Dokic (Australia) with a score of 6-7(7-9), 6-3, 7-5 in the final.