WUHAN - Serena Williams and Li Na will headline a star-studded field at the inaugural WTA Wuhan Open in September, organizers said on Thursday.

Fabrice Chouquet, event director of the WTA premier-level tournament, told a press conference here that eight of the WTA Tour top 10 ranked players will be competing in the Sept 21-27 event.

Russia's Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic are also expected to show up in the tournament, according to Chouquet.

The Wuhan Open is one of three WTA events in China new to the calendar in 2014, bringing the total number of tournaments in the growing tennis hotbed to six. It is also one of two Premier-level stops in China.

Sandwiched in between Premier events in Tokyo and Beijing during the WTA's Asia swing, the Wuhan Open will take place at the Wuhan Optical Valley Tennis Center.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and the most populous city in Central China, is the hometown of two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na.