American doubles player Nicole Melichar-Martinez disputed Elena Rybakina's claims, calling out the WTA for tweaking the rules amid a bye snub at the Japan Open.
Rybakina was clearly not happy with the WTA's decision to hand performance byes to two players ranked, and seeded, below her. The Kazakh is slated as the number three seed in Tokyo - a WTA 500 level that traditionally gives the top four seeds a bye in their first-round matches.
But to Rybakina's surprise, the WTA announced that it would trial performance byes at the Japan Open, being handed to Maria Sakkari (seeded fourth), who was outside the top four seeds until Marketa Vondrousova's withdrawal from the tournament, and the other to Caroline Garcia who is now the fifth seed.
Sakkari and Garcia played at the Guadalajara Open this week, and both players made the deep end of the tournament. The Greek won the event, meaning she'll be in western Mexico for precisely the whole week, while Garcia who lost in the semifinal to the eventual champion flew to Houston where she'll take the 14-hour flight to Tokyo on Sunday.
The genesis of the performance byes stems from the fact that Sakkari and Garcia are entitled to sufficient travel time to play the Japan Open. The earliest they will be on the court will be on Wednesday next week to play their Round of 16 matches.
Despite Rybakina voicing her frustration and being critical of the WTA leadership, Melichar-Martinez who is set to compete in doubles at the same tournament clarified that no rules were tweaked contrary to the Kazakh's claims on Instagram.
The American player stated that it was captured in the fact sheet, which is the primary document with all tournament information including entry requirements for players and fans before the event officially kicks off at the qualifying stage.
"But the rules weren’t changed in the last moment. That performance bye info was on the fact sheet"
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