Pan Pacific Open draw: Fernandez and Mboko’s Canadian No 1 battle as Rybakina handed nightmare path
Elena Rybakina has entered the Pan Pacific Open in an attempt to secure a place at the WTA Finals, but she faces a difficult path while Leylah Fernandez and Victoria Mboko’s fight to be the Canadian No 1 is set for an interesting twist.
The top four seeds have byes into the second round of the WTA 500 event and Rybakina is one of those as she is the highest-ranked player in the draw following Jasmine Paolini’s withdrawal.
Paolini pulled out after she qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals, but 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina keeps the second-seeded status and headlines the bottom half of the draw.
However, she faces a tricky match in the second round as she will face either Fernandez or a qualifier/lucky loser.
Fernandez is on a high after winning her fifth WTA Tour singles title at the Japan Open on Sunday, reclaiming the Canadian No 1 ranking from Victoria Mboko in the process.
But that ranking will again be up for grabs in Tokyo as Fernandez sits on 1,869 points at No 22 with Mboko one place behind on 1,806.
The two Canadians could meet in the quarter-final in what will be a first top-level match between the two, but they will have to negotiate a few matches before that as Fernandez needs to get past a qualifier or a lucky loser before facing Rybakina.
Mboko, who hasn’t won a WTA Tour match since lifting the Canadian Open trophy in August, faces fellow Canadian and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu in the first round with the winner facing a qualifier or lucky loser in the second round.
Rybakina and Mboko, who is seeded ninth, are projected to meet in the quarter-final with the winner likely taking on Clara Tauson in the semi-final.
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Tauson opens against either McCartney Kessler or a qualifier while she could meet seventh seed Diana Shnaider in the last eight.
With Paolini dropping out of the draw, Belinda Bencic takes her place at the top bracket and the fifth seed faces Wang Xinyu or a qualifier/lucky loser while she is projected to take on eighth seed Karolina Muchova in the quarter-final.
World No 10 Ekaterina Alexandrova headlines the bottom section of the top half of the draw, and she Jaqueline Cristian or a qualifier/lucky loser in the second round with sixth seed Linda Nosvaka a likely quarter-final opponent.
