WTA Brisbane: Kerber opens against Stosur, Barty threatens second round duel with Sharapova
As expected, the draw for the WTA Premier tournament in Brisbane brought with it some early hammer duels. Angelique Kerber will play the first match of the new season against Samantha Stosur , world number one Ashleigh Barty could face Maria Sharapova in the second round.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 04, 2020, 07:53 am
Only a few tournaments on the WTA tour will be occupied much stronger than the event in Brisbane this year. Ashleigh Barty , Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka are the top three in the world rankings, with Elina Svitolina, Petra Kvitiova and Kiki Bertens three other top ten players are playing at the first premier tournament of the year.
With such a prominent cast, the draw naturally brings a lot of tension with it. In particular, world number one Barty should be anything but satisfied with this: After a walk-through at the beginning, she could meet Maria Sharapova in the second round. To do this, the Russian, who is at the start in Brisbane thanks to a wildcard , would first have to defeat a qualifier.
In the quarter-finals, Barty would compete against Petra Kvitova according to the program. But also for the Australian Open finalist last year, the path to the round of eight will be anything but easy. Kvitova plays Anastasia Pavyluchenkova in the first round and could then face Sloane Stephens.
Kerber recovered from injury?
The other players in the top half of the tournament are Elina Svitolina and Madison Keys. Keys could face Angelique Kerber in the second round. For this, the German would have to win her opening match against wildcard holder Samantha Stosur. It will also be interesting to see how the three-time major winner has recovered from her injury that occurred in Hawaii .
In the lower part of the tableau, the match between Naomi Osaka and Maria Sakkari is another top duel for the Australian spectators. The Japanese, who will soon defend her title at the Australian Open, would meet Kiki Bertens in the quarterfinals according to the world rankings.
In the semifinals, Osaka could face Karolina Pliskova. In addition to Barty, the Czech is the only player who enjoys a walk-through in the first round. This means that the second in the world rankings does not have to open their season on a secondary pitch - all other players have to play at least one match on a slightly smaller court due to the ATP Cup taking place in parallel .
Görges at the start in Auckland
But not only in Brisbane will a WTA event take place from January 6th. An international tournament is taking place in Auckland at the same time. Top seed in New Zealand is Serena Williams, who will open the new season against Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals there could be a generation duel with Cori Gauff.
Julia Görges will also start in Auckland. The German defending champion starts against a qualifier and could face Caroline Wozniacki in the last eight who will end her career after the Australian Open . In the semifinals, Görges could face Petra Martic in second place.
Another international tournament is also taking place in Shenzhen. Belinda Bencic is top seed in China and meets Anna Blinkova at the start. Aryna Sabalenka will also be the defending champion.