WTA Madrid draw: Aryna Sabalenka gets tricky path as Danielle Collins match looms, Iga Swiatek-Coco Gauff in top half

Shahida Jacobs
Aryna Sabalenka fist pump
Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, reacts during her tennis match

The WTA main draw gods have not been kind to Aryna Sabalenka at the Madrid Open as she has been handed several banana skins for her title defence.

The defending champion has a bye into the second round and will meet either Magda Linett or Elisabetta Cocciaretto first up while a third-round clash against 26th seed Katie Boulter could be on the cards.

From there the draw gets quite difficult for the world No 2 as she is projected to meet either Madrid Open champion Danielle Collins or former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round.

If she reaches the last eight, then she could face Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrosouva before a likely meeting with newly crowned Stuttgart champion Elena Rybakina in the semi-final.

Sabalenka has struggled in recent weeks as she lost in the quarter-final in Stuttgart against Vondrosouva, in the third round of the Miami Open against Analina Kalinina and the round of 16 at the Miami Open.

Fresh from her first Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title, Rybakina opens her account against either Lucia Bronzetti or a qualifier. She is projected to meet Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round and either sixth seed Zheng Qinwen or 10th seed Daria Kasatkina in the quarter-final.

The top half is led by world No 1 and last year’s runner-up Iga Swiatek.

The four-time Grand Slam winner will take on either Xiy Wang or Ana Bogdan in the second round, but from the fourth round onwards it gets tricky as she is projected to meet either former world No 1 Victoria Azareka or 16th seed Elina Svitolina while Maria Sakkari could await in the quarters.

Fifth seed Sakkari, though, has to get through a section containing 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and Emma Navarro.

A Swiatek-Coco Gauff semi-final is projected, but US Open champion Gauff needs to get past either Brenda Fruhvirtova or Araxta Rux in the second round. The American could meet Dayana Yastremska and Linda Samsonova in the following rounds.

If the seeds hold, then Gauff will meet Ons Jabeur in the quarter-final, but the Tunisian has struggled of late and she has Leylah Fernandez and Jelena Ostapenko in Section 4 with her. Emma Raducanu also in the section.

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka finds herself in Gauff’s section, but she will face a qualifier in the first round before a possible meeting with 15th seed Samsonova.

READ MORE: Emma Raducanu handed enticing Madrid Open draw as clash with former world No 1 beckons