The tennis clay-court season is in full swing, with five tournaments taking place this week across both tours, one of which is the inaugural Rouen Open.
This freshly minted WTA 250 tournament will be held in northern France from April 15th to 21st, and the draw for the first edition has been released. Despite its relatively small field and the fact that it is running concurrently with the more prestigious WTA 500 in Stuttgart, there is no shortage of big names.
Naomi Osaka accepted a late wild card for the tournament. And she will arrive fresh from Tokyo after playing an important role in Japan's qualification for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.
The former World No. 1 will get a taste of what playing on clay feels like after her maternity leave when she opens up her campaign against former Roland Garros semifinalist Martina Trevisan.
The top seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, will face home wild card Alice Robbe. The Russian is expected to navigate that test easily before a tricky contest against Arantxa Rus in the second round, provided the Dutch lefty can win her opening match against a qualifier.
Osaka is not the only Grand Slam champion in the draw. 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens, a former Roland Garros runner-up who loves playing on clay, is also in the mix.
Stephens will face fellow American Peyton Stearns in a popcorn opening match. Third seed Anhelina Kalinina will play French veteran Alize Cornet. Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva faces in-form Nadia Podoroska.
Anna Blinkova was a finalist at the WTA 250 in Strasbourg last year. She is another player who could surprise this week. The 25-year-old starts her campaign against a qualifier.
Other interesting matches in the bottom half of the draw will see second seed Caroline Garcia take on Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Diane Parry will square off against the experienced Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. The full draw for the 2024 Rouen Open can be seen below.
2024 Rouen Open WTA Draw:
| 1 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (1) |
| 2 | Alice Robbe |
| 3 | Robin Montgomery |
| 4 | Arantxa Rus |
| 5 | Magda Linette |
| 6 | Elsa Jacquemot |
| 7 | Natalija Stevanovic |
| 8 | Anna Blinkova (8) |
| 9 | Anhelina Kalinina (3) |
| 10 | Alizé Cornet |
| 11 | Martina Trevisan |
| 12 | Naomi Osaka |
| 13 | Fiona Ferro |
| 14 | Elina Avanesyan |
| 15 | Nadia Podoroska |
| 16 | Mirra Andreeva (5) |
| 17 | Sloane Stephens (6) |
| 18 | Peyton Stearns |
| 19 | Karolina Pliskova |
| 20 | Polina Kudermetova |
| 21 | Varvara Gracheva |
| 22 | Viktoriya Tomova |
| 23 | Mayar Sherif |
| 24 | Yue Yuan (4) |
| 25 | Clara Burel (7) |
| 26 | Katarina Zavatska |
| 27 | Nao Hibino |
| 28 | Elena-Gabriela Ruse |
| 29 | Anna Karolina Schmiedlova |
| 30 | Diane Parry |
| 31 | Elisabetta Cocciaretto |
| 32 | Caroline Garcia (2) |
