WTA Prague - DRAW: Wimbledon champion Simona Halep returns to action

The sixth edition of the Prague Open starts in the Czech Republic capital on Monday, gathering Wimbledon champion and a solid field overall. None of the previous five winners are in the draw, but it should be an exciting battle for the trophy, with Prague serving as the first official tournament for many players since the coronavirus outbreak. Competing for the first time since Dubai in February, world no. 2 Simona Halep will try to stay on the winning trail and claim another title, most likely opting to remain in Europe in the upcoming weeks and miss the second Major of the season in New York. Halep will face Polona Hercog in the first round, with the winner of that one playing against Patricia Maria Tig or Barbora Krejcikova in round two. Anastasija Sevastova awaits for a qualifier, with a possible second-round clash versus the 8th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Arantxa Rus. Just like Halep, Pavlyuchenkova is not ready to travel to the USA, skipping the US Open and focusing on clay.

The 4th seed Dayana Yastremska will try to go further than in Palermo this week, wasting match points against Camila Giorgi in the quarters. Dayana will start the campaign against Irina-Camelia Begu, ahead of the second-round encounter versus Fiona Ferro or Aliona Bolsova. The French player is through to the final in Palermo, seeking the second WTA title later on Sunday against Anett Kontaveit. The 7th seed Barbora Strycova, Laura Siegemund and Sara Sorribes Tormo complete the upper half. In one of the most intriguing clashes of the first round, the 8th seed Veronika Kudermetova faces Eugenie Bouchard, with the winner of that one battles against Tamara Zidansek or Katerina Siniakova. Camila Giorgi lost in the semi-final in Palermo, hoping for another good run in Prague, first against a qualifier and then Jasmine Paolini or the third seed Elise Mertens.

Former top-10 player Daria Kasatkina plays against the fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the bottom quarters, accompanied by Kristyna Pliskova, Petra Martic, Varvara Gracheva, Anna Bogdan and the 15-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova. The super talented Czech is one of the most gifted players born in 2005, making the WTA debut against Pliskova. In the last year's final, a qualifier Jil Teichmann prevailed over Karolina Muchova 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and 44 minutes for the most prominent result on the Tour. The 21-year-old Teichmann never reached the WTA quarter-final before this week, managing to pass all the obstacles in Prague and become the champion, winning six points more than her rival and coming from a break down twice in the deciding set to cross the finish line first.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2F6Q9Xw