WTA Canadian Open draw: Coco Gauff leads field after Paris 2024 flop, Ons Jabeur and Naomi Osaka set for blockbuster
Coco Gauff will headline the 2024 Canadian Open and she hasn’t been handed the kindest of draws as she could meet Ons Jabeur in the quarter-final and defending champion Jessica Pegula in the last four.
Much like the ATP Canadian Open in Montreal, the WTA tournament in Toronto has also lost some of its star quality as world No 1 Iga Swiatek – who won bronze at the Paris Olympics – and fellow medallists Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic won’t feature at the WTA 1000 event.
But the list doesn’t stop there as world No 4 Elena Rybakina, French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini, world No 8 Danielle Collins, No 9 Maria Sakkari and No 10 Barbora Krejcikova are also missing.
As world No 2, Gauff inherited the top seed status, but she will be looking to make up for her disappointing campaign at the Paris Olympics where she was stunned in the third round by Vekic.
The reigning US Open winner will face either Sofia Kenin or a qualifier in the second round. If Gauff does end up facing Kenin, then it won’t be an easy match as the former Australian Open winner leads their head-to-head 2-1 having won their most recent encounter in three sets at Wimbledon 2023.
Should Gauff reach the quarter-final then she is projected to meet sixth seed Liudmila Samsonova. However, the Russian could have a tricky third-round encounter on the cards as ninth seed Jabeur and Naomi Osaka are in her path.
Jabeuer and Osaka will meet in the first round in only their second top-level match with former world No 1 Osaka winning their previous encounter at the 2021 Australian Open.
The pair are enjoying contrasting fortunes as Osaka is making her way back up the rankings after giving birth last year – sitting at No 94 – while Jabeur has slipped to No 16 after struggling in recent months.
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Defending champion Pegula faces either Nadia Podoroska or former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova in the second round while she could meet 15th seed Leylah Fernandez in the third round and seventh seed Madison Keys in the quarter-final.
World No 3 Aryna Sabalenka is seeded second and she faces either Cristina Bucsa or Yuan Yue in the second round while she could meet 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia or Great Britain’s Katie Boulter in the third round.
Daria Kasatkina is the other leading player in Sabalenka’s quarter and the fifth seed has either Caroline Dolehide or Amanda Anisimova first up and a potential third-round meeting with 10th seed Anna Kalinskaya.
Fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko headlines the third quarter and the Latvian will take on either Paula Badosa or Clara Tauson in the second round. Badosa is in good form as she will play in the final of the Washington Open on Sunday.
Eighth seed Emma Navarro is projected to meet Ostapenko in the quarter-final, but the American will likely have to get past 11th seed Marta Kostyuk in the third round.
