The 40th edition of the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo has delivered a whirlwind of drama, upsets, and dazzling tennis, with the tournament living up to its reputation as one of the most storied stops on the women’s tour. As the final WTA 500 event of the year and the last leg of the Asian Swing, Tokyo has once again drawn an elite field, featuring four Top 10 players and a dozen inside the Top 20, all vying for crucial ranking points and a hefty $1,064,510 prize pot.
With defending champion and Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen withdrawing before the event, the draw was thrown wide open. Replacements like Linda Noskova and Dayana Yastremska stepped in, while the absence of stars such as Naomi Osaka, Jessica Pegula, and Emma Raducanu meant new faces had a chance to shine on the Ariake Coliseum’s hard courts.
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, just 19 years old, has been one of the tournament’s breakout sensations. On October 22, she breezed past Germany’s Eva Lys in a blistering 53-minute display, winning 6-1, 6-1 and dropping only eight points on her serve—half of those coming in the final game. Reflecting on her performance, Mboko said, “I wanted to just be myself, and try to play very aggressively. I didn’t really have much of a game plan. I just wanted to play freely, and just be very positive with myself on court. So, I think I checked all the marks today, and it all worked out at the end of the day.”
Mboko’s win over Lys, ranked No. 50, marked her second WTA quarter-final and cemented her status as a rising star. Lys, who had fought through qualifying to make her main draw debut and notched a solid first-round win over Britain’s Katie Boulter, unfortunately faced a wave of online abuse from disgruntled bettors following her loss. “Tennis is fun until it’s not,” Lys posted on Instagram, highlighting the darker side of professional sports and the pressures young athletes face in the digital age.
Mboko’s next challenge is a quarter-final showdown against second seed Elena Rybakina, who dispatched Canadian compatriot Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in a late-night Thursday clash. Rybakina, ranked No. 7 in the world, has been tipped by many—such as Samuel Gill of TennisUpToDate.com—as a favorite to lift the trophy, though the unpredictable nature of the tournament means nothing is guaranteed. Fernandez, herself ranked No. 33, had previously edged out Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 7-6(5), 6-4 in a hard-fought match, but couldn’t quite match Rybakina’s consistency and power in the next round.
Elsewhere in the draw, the Czech contingent has made its presence felt. Eighth seed Karolina Muchova battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the first set to defeat Australian teenager Maya Joint 6-3, 7-5, booking her fourth quarter-final of the season. Muchova’s path was made slightly easier after her compatriot Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, retired from their opening match due to injury with the score at 6-2, 1-0. This retirement sparked controversy, with Karolina Pliskova openly questioning Vondrousova’s decision. “It’s never nice to play against the same opponent twice in a row. You simply don’t want that. They both train at Stvanice, they’re friends. It was especially unpleasant for Marketa. She’s now lost to Karolina in Tokyo, Ningbo and even a big match in Indian Wells. Today, for me, Marketa had absolutely no chance, I give Karolina credit, she played excellently. And again, off topic: Sorry, but I think it could have been finished today. Maybe Marketa was hurt, but I think that Marketa saw that she had no chance, and gave up the match for this reason,” Pliskova said on a Czech tennis podcast. Vondrousova, still recovering from shoulder surgery, responded pointedly on Instagram: “Anyone who has ever played with an injury knows that sometimes you just can’t go on. I’m doubly aware of this after shoulder surgery. I don’t understand why someone who should understand it the most is questioning this.”
In another gripping encounter, Anna Kalinskaya stunned seventh-seeded Diana Shnaider in a 2 hour, 42-minute thriller, prevailing 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-5. Kalinskaya, who has now recorded five Top 20 wins in 2025, came from 2-4 down in the deciding set to secure her spot in the last eight. She will face sixth seed Linda Noskova, who had to dig deep to overcome American qualifier McCartney Kessler 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Noskova’s victory marked her seventh quarter-final appearance of the season, and she will be looking to build on her momentum against Kalinskaya, whom she previously bested in Adelaide qualifiers back in 2023.
Fifth seed Belinda Bencic also remains in contention, having eased past French qualifier Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-3. The Swiss star is set to face Muchova in a highly anticipated quarter-final, with the winner potentially setting up a blockbuster semi-final clash against either Rybakina or Mboko, depending on how the top half of the draw unfolds.
The tournament’s prestige is underscored by its roll call of former champions, including legends like Martina Hingis (five titles), Lindsay Davenport (four), Maria Sharapova (two), and Caroline Wozniacki (two). With so many top seeds and exciting young talents in the mix, the Tokyo Open continues to serve as a proving ground for the next generation of stars while offering a fitting stage for established names to make their mark late in the season.
As the action heads into the business end, storylines abound: Can Rybakina justify her favorite status and claim the title? Will Mboko’s fearless run continue against the world’s elite? Can the Czechs add another chapter to their strong 2025 campaign? And will the tournament’s off-court controversies—like the ongoing debate over injury retirements and the scourge of online abuse—spark wider conversations in the sport?
With high stakes, passionate crowds, and a glittering cast of competitors, the 2025 Toray Pan Pacific Open is shaping up to be a memorable finale to the WTA’s Asian Swing. Tennis fans worldwide will be watching closely as the remaining contenders battle for glory under the bright lights of Tokyo.
