The women's singles table tennis event was a part of the table tennis program at the 2008 Summer Olympics and took place at the Peking University Gymnasium. The tournament started on August 18 with the final on August 22. 78 athletes from 42 countries took part in the women's single event. The tournament was a single elimination tournament with a third place playoff played between the two losing semi-finalists. The top 16 seeds in the tournament received a bye to the third round. Seeds 17 through 32 received a bye to the second round, seeds 33 to 50 received a bye to the first round while seeds 51 to 78 contested in the preliminary round.

Qualification

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8).

Seeds

Seeds for the draw of the Olympics were based on the ITTF world ranking list published on July 1, 2008. The top 16 seeded players qualified directly to the third round. The players ranked from 17 to 32 qualified directly to the second round.

<li> (fourth round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (second round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (second round)</li> <li> (third round)</li> <li> (fourth round)</li> <li> (second round)</li> <li> (quarterfinals)</li> <li> (fourth round)</li> </ol>

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4

Preliminary rounds

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4