1988 Virginia Slims of Washington – Singles
      
Hana Mandlíková was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Martina Navratilova.
Navratilova won in the final 6–0, 6–2 against Pam Shriver.
Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.
Draw
Key
References
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 |  |  |  |  |  |  | | WTA Category 5 tournaments | 
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 |  |  |  | | WTA Category 4 tournaments | 
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 Dallas (S, D) Oakland (S, D) Houston (S, D) Tokyo Indoor (S, D) Eastbourne (S, D) Cincinnati (S, D) New Orleans (S, D) Filderstadt (S, D) Brighton (S, D) Chicago (S, D)
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 |  |  |  | | WTA Category 3 tournaments | 
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 |  |  |  | | WTA Category 2 tournaments | 
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 Brisbane (S, D) Oklahoma City (S, D) Kansas (S, D) Tokyo Outdoor (S, D) Geneva (S, D) Strasbourg (S, D) Birmingham (S, D) Nice (S, D) Aix-en-Provence (S, D) San Diego (S, D) Sofia (S, D) Phoenix (S, D) Brentwood (S, D) Indianapolis (S, D)
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 |  |  |  | | WTA Category 1 tournaments | 
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 Buenos Aires (S, D) Guarujá (S, D) Auckland (S, D Wellington (S, D) Singapore (S, D) Taiwan (S, D) Taranto (S, D) Barcelona (S, D) Båstad (S, D) Brussels (S, D) OTB Open (S, D) Aptos (S, D) Athens (S, D) Paris (S, D) San Juan (S, D) Guarujá II (S, D)
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