ATX Open draw: Jessica Pegula No 1 seed, Venus Williams could face American teen, Bianca Andreescu returns
Newly-crowned Dubai Tennis Championships champion Jessica Pegula will face Rebecca Sramkova in the opening round of her ATX Open title defence, but there is some doubt over her participation.
Pegula beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets in the Dubai final on Saturday to win her fourth WTA Tour 1000 title with the win helping her to close the gap to Coco Gauff at No 4 in the WTA Rankings.
Her opening match against Sramkova in Texas is scheduled for Monday, but it remains to be seen if she will feature, given the gruelling week in hot and humid conditions in the United Arab Emirates.
Pegula, who beat McCartney Kessler in the 2025 final, could face 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the second with the Canadian taking on Dalma Gálfi in her opener.
WTA News
WTA Rankings Winners & Losers Dubai: Gauff & Pegula close gap to Rybakina & Swiatek, Eala soars
Amanda Anisimova gives her honest opinion on Alex Eala and her fans
Andreescu received a wildcard into the main draw as she is currently at No 155 in the rankings with her last WTA Tour event in October 2025 as she has played on the ITF Circuit in recent months.
If the seedings hold, then Pegula is projected to meet seventh seed Caty McNally in the quarter-final and third seed Wang Xinyu in the semi-final.
Wang faces a qualifier in the first round and, if she gets through that, she will face another yet-to-be-determined qualifier in the second round with fifth seed Varvara Gracheva, who opens against wildcard Taylor Townsend, expected to be a quarter-final opponent.
Second seed Iva Jovic headlines the bottom half of the draw and the American has a tough opener against former world No 32 Anna Blinkova, although the Russian is currently at No 83 in the rankings.
The 18-year-old Jovic finds herself at No 20 following her run to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
If the youngster gets past Blinkova, we could have a teenager against a 45-year-old in the second round as Jovic could face the great Venus Williams.
Former world No 1 Williams has received a wildcard and faces Australian world No 73 Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round before a potential meeting with Jovic.
Seven-time Grand Slam winner Williams has not played since losing in the first round of the Australian Open against Olga Danilovic.
Jovic, though, is tipped to make the quarter-finals where she will potentially face eighth seed Petra Marcinko before a likely clash against fourth seed Peyton Stearns in the semi-final.
Stearns has to get past Francisco Jones in the first round and possibly sixth-seed Anna Bondar in the quarter-final.
ATX Open Projected Quatar-Finals
Pegula v McNally
Wang v Gracheva
Bondar v Stearns
Marcinko v Jovic
