Doha: Former two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, and Veronika Kudermetova will take to the Centre Court at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Monday as the $780,637 WTA 500 Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2023 swings into big action.
Belarusian Azarenka will take on 23-year-old Turkish Ipek Oz while Russian Kudermetiva will lock horns with former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round.
The winner of that match will take on either Liudmila Samsonova or former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
Earlier in the day, Czech Karolina Pliskova will play former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez of Canada in a qualifying round.
The first main round action will see Czech Karolina Muchova against Martina Trevisan of Italy.
Later in the evening, there will be exciting doubles action where Qatar’s Mubaraka Al Naimi will team up with Russia’s Ekaterina Yashina against Poland’s Alicja Rosolska and Kiwi Erin Routliffe.
Doubles top seeds Coco Gauff and Jesica Pegula of the US will play Slovak Tereza Mihalikova and China’s Yifan Xu.
Seven of the Top 10-ranked players are competing for the top honours and the beautiful Falcon Trophy in Doha.
Defending champion Iga Swiatek heads the draw as the top seed. After her first-round bye, World No.1 Swiatek is expected to face Danielle Collins. A possible match against Collins could be tricky — the American knocked Swiatek out in the 2022 Australian Open semi-finals.
No.7 seed Belinda Bencic or former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka could be potential quarter-final opponents for either Swiatek or Collins.
In the second quarter, No.4 seed Coco Gauff has a first-round bye, and will face either Zhang Shuai or two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in her first match.
The third quarter is led by No.3 seed Caroline Garcia (with a first-round bye) and No.5 seed Maria Sakkari.
Sakkari has a tricky opener against Zheng Qinwen, last season’s WTA Newcomer of the Year.
The final quarter sees No.2 seed Jessica Pegula at the very bottom of the draw, with a first-round bye. Pegula will meet either her fellow American Madison Keys or former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko in her first match.
No. 6 seed Daria Kasatkina is also in the bottom quarter. Kasatkina will play a qualifier first up, with the winner of that match facing either Paula Badosa or Beatriz Haddad Maia in a tough second-rounder.
Meanwhile, Australian Open 2023 finalist Elena Rybakina has pulled out of the tournament citing scheduling issues leaving the field open for the likes of Swiatek, Kvitova, Pliskova, Azarenka, Garcia and others to take a shot at the title.
Source: Qatar Olympic Committee