Exempt Spot, the reserved spot shall be immediately filled by the next in player from the main draw alternate list. 

b. Qualifying Singles 

The minimum number of places in the Qualifying Draw will be sixteen (16) (except at WTA 125 Tournaments), consisting of some or all of the following: 

i. Direct Acceptance 

See Section III.B.1 – Direct Acceptance. 

ii. Wild Cards 

See Section III.C – Wild Cards. 

If there are open spots in the draw and no On-Site Alternates, the open spots will revert to the Tournament Director as Additional Wild Card spots. These Wild Cards will count towards a player’s yearly allotment of Wild Cards. 

If a Qualifying Wild Card withdraws before the Qualifying Draw has started, the Tournament Director may name an alternate Wild Card, even if the Wild Card nomination deadline has passed. (See Section III.C.5 - Filling Vacant Wild Card Spots.) 

iii. Alternates 

(a) Sign-In Procedures 

The Qualifying Alternate Next-In List will be frozen at the Freeze Deadline. If there is no Qualifying draw, the Freeze Deadline will be 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (New York, USA Time) on the Thursday before the Tournament week. After the Freeze Deadline, no more Alternates will be moved into the Qualifying Draw and such alternate players are no longer committed to play the Tournament. Players on the Alternate List can preserve their eligibility for possible Qualifying Draw positions by signing in with a WTA Operations staff member or the Supervisor by 4:00 p.m. tournament local time on the day before the start of the Qualifying Draw. 

(i) The Sign-In deadline for Alternates is thirty (30) minutes prior to the scheduled start of play for the day. 

