The first WTA tournament after the Australian Open is around the corner, as the
draw for the 2024
Thailand Open Hua Hin was released.
Running from January 29th to February 4th, the Thailand Open is the first WTA 250 tournament held after the season's first major, and a few interesting names signed up for the tournament in Thailand.
One of them is
Paula Badosa, who returned to tennis in Melbourne, and
it was a pretty good comeback for the Spanish player. In Hua Hin, she entered the draw as unseeded, and she'll face an early challenge.
In the first round of the tournament, Badosa will be facing home wild card Lanlana Tararudee, who doesn't have much experience with competing in Tour-level events, so former world no. 2 should be able to navigate this clash.
However, if she wins, the Spaniard will take on the winner of the match between the first-seeded
Magda Linette and talented
Diana Shnaider. Then, in the quarterfinals, she may need to play another difficult match.
Former world no. 32,
Ajla Tomljanovic, is one of the most talented players on the WTA Tour, but the Australian's career keeps being stopped because of various injuries.
Now, she's healthy and ready to compete, and she'll start in Hua Hin against a qualifier, and in the second round, should she win her first match, the Australian will play against the winner of the match between the fifth-seeded
Xiyu Wang and Qiang Wang.
If Tomljanovic handles both of her matches, and so does Badosa, the two will meet in a blockbuster quarterfinal in the top part of the draw.
But the rest is also interesting. The third-seeded
Xinyu Wang will play against Emina Bektas, while the second-seeded
Lin Zhu will begin against a qualifier, and if she wins, she'll meet either
Linda Fruhvirtova or
Claire Liu.
2024 Thailand Open Hua Hin WTA Draw:
1 | Magda Linette (1) |
2 | Diana Shnaider |
3 | Lalanla Tararudee |
4 | Paula Badosa |
5 | Qualifier |
6 | Ajla Tomljanovic |
7 | Qiang Wang |
8 | Xiyu Wang (5) |
9 | Xinyu Wang (3) |
10 | Emina Bektas |
11 | Nao Hibino |
12 | Kamilla Rakhimova |
13 | Laura Pigossi |
14 | Viktorija Golubic |
15 | Thasaporn Naklo |
16 | Yulia Putintseva (7) |
17 | Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (8) |
18 | Qualifier |
19 | Qualifier |
20 | Yafan Wang |
21 | Tamara Zidansek |
22 | Katie Volynets |
23 | Qualifier |
24 | Tatjana Maria (4) |
25 | Yue Yuan (6) |
26 | Arina Rodionova |
27 | Zhouxuan Bai |
28 | Qualifier |
29 | Linda Fruhvirtova |
30 | Claire Liu |
31 | Qualifier |
32 | Lin Zhu (2) |