Pegula leads strong list of participants at Libéma Open; Rus returns

The women’s singles players field at Libéma Open is largely known. The list for the main tournament (10-16 June) is headed by world number five Jessica Pegula. Arantxa Rus returns to the only Dutch WTA tournament after 2019.

Two-time winner Ekaterina Alexandrova (WTA-18) will try to score a hat-trick on the Brabant grass. Indeed, Alexandrova was the best in 2022 and 2023. Last year’s finalist Veronika Kudermetova (WTA-25) is also in contention as is top-20 player Liudmila Samsonova (WTA-17).

Emma Navarro is storming the world rankings this year. The 22-year-old American has climbed to the 22nd position and is coming to Libéma Open for the first time.

Other famous names starting their grass season at the Autotron ‘s-Hertogenbosch after Roland Garros are Elise Mertens (WTA-30), Donna Vekic (WTA-37) and US Open champion Bianca Andreescu (WTA-64).

Dutch input at least comes from Arantxa Rus (WTA-49), who managed to reach the quarterfinals in 2017. Besides Mertens, Belgian fans can also enjoy compatriot Greet Minnen (WTA-76).

The organisers have four more wildcards to give away. The playing schedule is further completed with six qualifiers and one Special Exempts.

The player list so far:
Name Country Ranking
Jessica Pegula USA #5
Liudmila Samsonova #17
Ekaterina Alexandrova #18
Emma Navarro USA #22
Veronika Kudermetova #25
Elise Mertens Belgium #30
Donna Vekic Croatia #37
Yue Yuan China #38
Marie Bouzkova Czechia #39
Anna Blinkova #46
Arantxa Rus Netherlands #49
Magda Linette Poland #51
Diana Schnaider #62
Bianca Andreescu Canada #64 *
Oceane Dodin France #73
Tamara Korpatsch Germany #75
Greet Minnen Belgium #76
Bernarda Pera USA #77
Clara Tauson Denmark #78
Mayar Sherif Egypt #80
Zhuoxuan Bai China #90
* Protected Ranking

Libéma Open is a combined WTA/ATP tournament and will be held from Saturday 8 to Sunday 16 June on the grass courts of Autotron ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The qualifying tournament is in the weekend of 8 and 9 June after which the main tournament starts on Monday.

The order of finals on Sunday 16 June is reversed this year. The singles title match of the men’s tournament starts at 12.00pm. The singles final of the WTA tournament is scheduled at 2.30pm.