The draw for the 2025 Merida Open, which is the sole WTA 500 event in the sea of WTA 1000 tournaments, has been revealed.
Tennis players on the WTA Tour will get to enjoy many WTA 1000 tournaments in this part of the season. There were two back-to-back tournaments in Doha and Dubai, and in March, there will be two more in Indian Wells and Miami.
According to some, like the World No. 1 and No. 2 players Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, that's too much. Swiatek complained about her schedule after the Dubai Championships. Sabalenka, on the other hand, even before the Middle Eastern swing began.
Now, with the following two WTA 1000 tournaments held in the United States, players are starting to move to that part of the world, which is why the Merida Open in Mexico is a perfect destination for a WTA 500 tournament.
It's a new tournament, which was first held in 2023, and in its first two editions, the Merida Open was a WTA 250 event. Now, it's a WTA 500 tournament for the first time.
That's also one of the reasons why the tournament organizers managed to attract many Top 20 players. The top-seeded Emma Navarro leads the draw. Like one of the top four seeded players, she has a first-round bye.
But that doesn't mean her draw will be easy. Already in the second round of the tournament, Navarro could take on the 2017 US Open champion, Sloane Stephens. The 31-year-old American received a wild card, and she will play against a qualifier in the first round of the tournament.
On the opposite side of the draw is the second-seeded Paula Badosa. The Spaniard will await the winner of the match between Maria Camila Osorio and Jaqueline Cristian in the second round of the WTA 500 event.
Her potential quarter-final opponent could be Marta Kostyuk. The sixth-seeded Ukrainian will play against a qualifier in the first round, and she might play against compatriot Anhelina Kalinina in the second round. She, too, will play against a qualifier.
Zeynep Sonmez is the defending champion, having won the tournament when it was still a WTA 250 tournament. This year, she needed a wild card to get into the main draw, and in the first round, she will play against the eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari.
Fans of the young and talented players will be happy to see the 17-year-old Renata Jamrichova in the draw. The two-time junior Grand Slam champion received a wild card and also a very favorable draw.
She will play against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round of the tournament. The winner of this match will play against either Magdalena Frech or Elina Avanesyan in the next round.
Jamrichova's Billie Jean King Cup teammate, Rebecca Sramkova, who led Slovakia to the sensational final appearance in 2024, will also play at the event. She will meet Lulu Sun in the first round, with the winner taking on the third-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia.
2025 Merida Open WTA Draw:
| Player 1 | Player 2 |
| Emma Navarro [1] | BYE |
| Sloane Stephens | Qualifier |
| Magda Linette | Elisabetta Cocciaretto |
| Zeynep Sonmez | Maria Sakkari [8] |
| Anna Kalinskaya [4] | BYE |
| Qualifier | Julia Grabher |
| Jessica Bouzas Maneiro | Renata Jamrichova |
| Elina Avanesyan | Magdalena Frech [7] |
| Donna Vekic [5] | Qualifier |
| Mayar Sherif | Qualifier |
| Rebecca Sramkova | Lulu Sun |
| BYE | Beatriz Haddad Maia [3] |
| Marta Kostyuk [6] | Qualifier |
| Anhelina Kalinina | Qualifier |
| Jaqueline Cristian | Camila Osorio |
| BYE | Paula Badosa [2] |
