The 2023 Strasbourg Open, an important prelude to the Roland Garros, promises a lot of action as the draw was released.
From May 21st to 27th, players meet at the WTA 250 event in Strasbourg, which gives them the last chance to improve their form ahead of the second Grand Slam of the season. Last year, Angelique Kerber won the title, but since she has recently welcomed her first child, she won't be able to attend the tournament.
Instead, the top seed at the 2023 Strasbourg Open, also referred to as the Internationaux de Strasbourg, is Magda Linette who has had an impressive 2023 season so far.
She began the year by representing Poland at the United Cup in Brisbane, where her country reached the semifinals as she helped by defeating players like Jil Teichmann and Lucia Bronzetti along the way before losing to Madison Keys.
Following the successful start at the United Cup, she made a semifinal appearance at the Australian Open, marking her best career result at a major tournament so far. In the first round of the 2023 Strasbourg Open, Linette will begin against Cristina Bucsa, with a possible second-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The third-seeded Shuai Zhang will be also one of the contenders, and she will begin her journey in the French city against Anna-Lena Friedsam from Germany. The fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea will want to use her recent form to her advantage, taking on Clara Burel in the first round.
Another player that can make a deep run is Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian is on her way to reclaiming her spot among the elite on the WTA Tour, and the first-round win against Louisa Chirico helped her with that. A withdrawal of the second-seeded Elise Mertens also helped Svitolina as she will take on either qualifier Su-Wei Hsieh or a lucky loser Erin Routliffe in the second round.
1. Magda Linette (1) |
2. Cristina Bucsa |
3. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova |
4. Angelina Gabueva |
5. Viktoriya Tomova |
6. Alizé Cornet |
7. Sarah Iliev |
8. Lauren Davis (7) |
9. Shuai Zhang (3) |
10. Anna-Lena Friedsam |
11. Amandine Hesse |
12. Anna Blinkova |
13. Emma Navarro |
14. Tereza Martincova |
15. Maryna Zanevska |
16. Jil Teichmann (8) |
17. Sorana Cirstea (5) |
18. Clara Burel |
19. Xinyu Wang |
20. Kaia Kanepi |
21. Kimberly Birrell |
22. Elena Malygina |
23. Sophie Chang |
24. Bernarda Pera (4) |
25. Varvara Gracheva (6) |
26. Zhuoxuan Bai |
27. Oceane Dodin |
28. Selena Janicijevic |
29. Elina Svitolina |
30. Louisa Chirico |
31. Su-Wei Hsieh |
32. Erin Routliffe |