The Japan Championships being held in Osaka returns to the calendar once again, after four long years.
The draw for the 2023 tournament was revealed with a handful of intriguing matches to look up to. Without the established cadre of top 50 players (outside one entrant), this could be a massive opportunity for the WTA's undercards to lift a rare trophy at Tour level.
Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko has pulled out from the event and has since been replaced by Panna Udvardy. She was meant to be the top seed, but that honor will now go to Lin Zhu, one of China's most improved players this year.
The seedings have been reshuffled, with another withdrawal - Peyton Stearns, who recently broke through to the second week of the US Open. Stearns' place has gone to fellow American Ashlyn Krueger, who was among the early alternates.
Top seed Lin Zhu will take on the talented 22-year-old Xiyu Wang in an all-Chinese first-round match. The highest-seeded player Lin could play in the semifinal is Xiyu's namesake, Xinyu Wang, who is the number three seed. The 21-year-old Xinyu will open up against out-of-form Swiss Jil Teichmann.
An early popcorn match in the top half of the draw is sixth seed Yulia Putintseva taking on Russian youngster Diana Shnaider. Whoever wins that match will face one of Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam or a qualifier in the second round.
In the bottom half of the draw, we'll see another German in action, and that happens to be the second seed Tatjana Maria, who is still going strong at 36. Maria will face Hungary's Panna Udvardy, among the first alternates after Lesia Tsurenko's withdrawal.
Fourth seed Linda Fruhvirtova kicks off her Asian swing with a tough opener on paper, locking horns against Harriet Dart. Former Roland Garros semifinalist Nadia Podoroska will battle China's Yue Yuan and home hope Mai Hontama will look to thrill the crowd when she seeks a rare main draw win when she clashes with South Korea's Su Jeong Jang.
To see the full draw for the 2023 Japan Championships, be sure to check it out below.
2023 Japan Championships Osaka WTA Draw:
| 1. Lin Zhu (1) |
| 2. Xiyu Wang |
| 3. Moyuka Uchijima |
| 4. Qualifier |
| 5. Qualifier |
| 6. Diane Parry |
| 7. Rebecca Marino |
| 8. Nao Hibino (7) |
| 9. Xinyu Wang (3) |
| 10. Jil Teichmann |
| 11. Qualifier |
| 12. Qualifier |
| 13. Qualifier |
| 14. Anna-Lena Friedsam |
| 15. Diana Shnaider |
| 16. Yulia Putintseva (6) |
| 17. Kateryna Baindl (8) |
| 18. Ashlyn Krueger |
| 19. Viktorija Golubic |
| 20. Jessika Ponchet |
| 21. Jule Niemeier |
| 22. Anna Kalinskaya |
| 23. Harriet Dart |
| 24. Linda Fruhvirtova (4) |
| 25. Nadia Podoroska (8) |
| 26. Yue Yuan |
| 27. Mai Hontama |
| 28. Su Jeong Jang |
| 29. Qualifier |
| 30. Misaki Doi |
| 31. Panna Udvardy |
| 32. Tatjana Maria (2) |
0 Comments