The 2024 ASB Classic in Auckland is the first WTA 250 event of the brand-new season, featuring a stack of top-class talent.
The draw for the 37th edition of the women's tournament has been released, and it has thrown up some exciting matches as early as the opening round. Main draw action will begin on New Year's Day and run till January 7, 2024.
In the top half of the draw, we locate the defending champion and outright favorite to reign at this WTA 250 tournament. American women have excelled playing this event. Five of the past seven champions have come from the United States.
The top seed, Coco Gauff, will look to complete a first successful title defense since Julia Goerges back in 2019. She begins her campaign against fellow American Claire Liu. On paper, the 19-year-old has a relatively comfortable draw.
Her biggest danger in the top half is seventh seed Petra Martic, whom she could face in the quarterfinal. But the Croat has a tough opener against big-serving Rebeka Masarova, who reached a maiden WTA final in Auckland in 2023.
Still, in the top half, an exciting duel between Linda Fruhvirtova and Emma Navarro will occur. New Zealand's very own Monique Barry, who has been granted a wild card, will face Elina Avanesyan, a sensation at last season's French Open.
The headliner is the bottom half of the draw, where two returning mothers clash in the first round. Caroline Wozniacki, a former finalist in Auckland, will play World No. 25 Elina Svitolina. Whoever wins that match will likely face former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the second round.
But the Briton will first need to learn the identity of her first-round opponent, who is a qualifier, and will need to banish her bad memory from last year, where she succumbed to an ankle injury at this tournament 12 months ago.
The ASB Classic is a tournamnet of comebacks. Another player returning to the fold after an indefinite break is Amanda Anismova, who has drawn Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in what will be her first match since April.
The winner of that clash will face one of Marie Bouzkova or Magdalena Frech. The top section of the bottom half is very open, and China's left-handed youngster Xiyu Wang will fancy her chances of going deep.
She takes on Jaqueline Cristian for starters and could face sixth-seeded Xinyu Wang in the subsequent round, provided her compatriot can also navigate a testing opener against the experienced Yulia Putintseva. The complete draw for the 2024 ASB Classic in Auckland can be seen down below.
2024 ASB Classic Auckland WTA Draw:
| 1. Coco Gauff (1) |
| 2. Claire Liu |
| 3. Anna Blinkova |
| 4. Qualifier |
| 5. Qualifier |
| 6. Qualifier |
| 7. Qualifier |
| 8. Varvara Gracheva (8) |
| 9. Emma Navarro (4) |
| 10. Linda Fruhvirtova |
| 11. Elina Avanesyan |
| 12. Monique Barry |
| 13. Yue Yuan |
| 14. Kayla Day |
| 15. Rebeka Masarova |
| 16. Petra Martic (7) |
| 17. Xinyu Wang (6) |
| 18. Yulia Putintseva |
| 19. Jaqueline Cristian |
| 20. Xiyu Wang |
| 21. Diane Parry |
| 22. Emina Bektas |
| 23. Qualifier |
| 24. Lesia Tsurenko (3) |
| 25. Marie Bouzkova (5) |
| 26. Magdalena Frech |
| 27. Amanda Anisimova |
| 28. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova |
| 29. Qualifier |
| 30. Emma Raducanu |
| 31. Caroline Wozniacki |
| 32. Elina Svitolina (2) |
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