Running from September 17th to 23rd, the Guadalajara Open is the penultimate WTA 1000 on the calendar, and the draw for the second edition has just been released.
The tournament came under fire following the high-profile withdrawals of 11 of the world's Top 20 stars, leaving them massively short in terms of star presence. But a plethora of stylish and talented names feature in the draw, and this is a priceless opportunity for any of the 56 women in the main draw to win a WTA 1000.
The top eight seeds in the tournament have a bye in the opening round. So top seed Ons Jabeur will learn her first opponent from the winner of the all-American clash between Lauren Davis and Alycia Parks. In the other half of the draw lies second seed Maria Sakkari. The Greek will face one of Storm Hunter or Iryna Shymanovich in her second-round match.
Switzerland's Belinda Bencic will look to bounce back from last week's early exit in San Diego. But she faces a potential banana peel, potentially against sharp-hitting American lefty Taylor Townsend who will be a big favorite to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic in the opening round.
Out-of-form Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia is on the verge of a Top-10 exit. 12 months on since her late-season surge, Garcia needs points desperately to avoid tumbling even further in the rankings. The third seed has a bye in the first round and will face one of Aliaksandra Sasnvocih or Arantxa Rus.
The good thing for Garcia is that she has a combined 6-0 record against the two in Tour-level meetings. Moving on, the fourth seed of this event is Madison Keys who had a great run at her home Slam in New York. The American made a tearful exit at the tournament and needed to clear her head, hence the San Diego withdrawal.
Keys will pursue her first WTA 1000 since 2019 and could open up against fellow American Emma Navarro or a qualifier. A potential showdown against Jelena Ostapenko could happen in the last eight. But the Latvian faces a rocky road, with a likely opening duel against Marta Kostyuk.
If Ostapenko gets through that hurdle, she could play resurgent Sofia Kenin or Anhelina Kalinina, who are both considered favorites to win their opening matches against qualifiers.
Among the early popcorn matches in Guadalajara include: Danielle Collins taking on ninth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, and the all-Belgian meeting between 13th seed Elise Mertens, and one of ITF Tour's MVP Yanina Wickmayer.
2023 Guadalajara Open WTA Draw:
| 1. Ons Jabeur (1) |
| 2. BYE |
| 3. Lauren Davis |
| 4. Alycia Parks |
| 5. Qualifier |
| 6. Martina Trevisan |
| 7. Louisa Chirico |
| 8. Jasmine Paolini (15) |
| 9. Beatriz Haddad Maia (9) |
| 10. Danielle Collins |
| 11. Caroline Dolehide |
| 12. Peyton Stearns |
| 13. Camila Osorio |
| 14. Magdalena Frech |
| 15. BYE |
| 16. Ekaterina Alexandrova (8) |
| 17. Madison Keys (4) |
| 18. BYE |
| 19. Emma Navarro |
| 20. Qualifier |
| 21. Leylah Fernandez |
| 22. Qualifier |
| 23. Yanina Wickmayer |
| 24. Elise Mertens (13) |
| 25. Anhelina Kalinina (12) |
| 26. Qualifier |
| 27. Sofia Kenin |
| 28. Qualifier |
| 29. Marta Kostyuk |
| 30. Stacey Fung |
| 31. BYE |
| 32. Jelena Ostapenko (6) |
| 33. Veronika Kudermetova (7) |
| 34. BYE |
| 35. Renata Zarazua |
| 36. Eugenie Bouchard |
| 37. Qualifier |
| 38. Dayana Yastremska |
| 39. Robin Montgomery |
| 40. Victoria Azarenka (10) |
| 41. Karolina Pliskova (16) |
| 42. Qualifier |
| 43. Hailey Baptiste |
| 44. Lya Isabel Fernandez Olivares |
| 45. Aliaksandra Sasnovich |
| 46. Arantxa Rus |
| 47. BYE |
| 48. Caroline Garcia (3) |
| 49. Belinda Bencic (5) |
| 50. BYE |
| 51. Ajla Tomljanovic |
| 52. Taylor Townsend |
| 53. Sloane Stephens |
| 54. Qualifier |
| 55. Emiliana Arango |
| 56. Anastasia Potapova (11) |
| 57. Mayar Sherif (14) |
| 58. Camila Giorgi |
| 59. Kristina Mladenovic |
| 60. Cristina Bucsa |
| 61. Storm Hunter |
| 62. Iryna Shymanovich |
| 63. BYE |
| 64. Maria Sakkari (2) |
0 Comments