Preview and Schedule WTA DC Open Washington: Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina lead field, Venus Williams is back on court

The WTA 500 DC Open Washington will take place from July 21 to July 26, 2025, in the United States capital. This tournament definitively kicks off the American hardcourt swing with a strong draw. Local favorites Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro appear as title contenders, especially after the last-minute withdrawal of World No. 6 Zheng Qinwen, due to recent surgery that will keep her off the courts for some time.

Nevertheless, high-level matches are guaranteed in the tournament, with great talents making up the main draw. The 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is another player looking to start the American hardcourt swing in good form and with confidence, while Dane Clara Tauson will be the 4th seed.

The draw is led by local players Jessica Pegula (No. 4) and Emma Navarro (No. 11), who will seek a strong performance with the public on their side and to begin a campaign that already looks complicated in the hardcourt swing. Pegula is preparing for an important points defense in the coming weeks, as she defends the title at the Canadian Open and finals at the Cincinnati Open and US Open: a total of more than 3,000 points that could easily drop her out of the top 10 by the end of the last Grand Slam of the year if she doesn't manage to accumulate the maximum number of points along the way.

Despite this, it's hard not to see Pegula as a favorite, being the only top-10 player in the draw and maintaining clear consistency over the last five years. She leads the top half of the draw, while Navarro leads the bottom half. The 24-year-old recently dropped in the rankings and is just shy of returning to the top 10, especially after a great campaign to the Wimbledon fourth round.

The player who can probably be singled out as the biggest threat to the locals is likely Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, a player who, in any main draw, must be considered among the title contenders. The 2022 Wimbledon champion showed good form at SW19 but ran into an impeccable Clara Tauson in the third round. Nevertheless, Rybakina has found greater consistency in her recent tournaments, and little by little, she looks ready to return to an elite position. She currently sits 9th in the Race to the WTA Finals and is just points away from entering a potential WTA Finals qualification zone for the first time.

Precisely Dane Clara Tauson – who defeated Rybakina a few weeks ago – will again be part of the DC Open tournament. What Tauson has done throughout the year can no longer be considered a surprise; she recently confirmed her entry into the top 20 for the first time in her career, and at 22 years old, it seems only a matter of time before she can make an even bigger impact on the Tour. The DC Open will be a good opportunity to show how much she can replicate her level on the hardcourt swing, which at the beginning of the year led her to her first WTA 1000 final at the Dubai Open.

The Washington draw will also offer the opportunity for several big stars who have fallen in the rankings to try and earn points in a very important part of the year. Among them are some Grand Slam champions, notably four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. The only one of them who maintains a form that could keep her consistent is Kenin, who manages to stay in the top 30, but surely has greater ambitions for herself, especially when she has the home advantage in her favor.

Others looking to regain better form include wildcard Maria Sakkari – who is currently ranked only No. 89 – and local Danielle Collins – who has struggled in recent months when she needed to defend points and currently doesn't even reach the top 60.

If anything has stolen the attention in the tournament's lead-up, it's the presence of none other than seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who will make her return to the courts after 16 months. The 45-year-old tennis player still refuses to retire and it was confirmed that she entered the main draw thanks to a wildcard from the organization. She will play the first round against none other than the 5th seed Magdalena Fręch. Venus will seek her first victory since Cincinnati 2023, when – also without rhythm and practically without ranking – she greatly responded to the wildcard she received and defeated 16th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the first round.