Canadian Open draw: Iga Swiatek, Karolina Muchova, Elina Svitolina, Maria Sakkari all in same bracket

Top seed Iga Swiatek has been handed a tricky draw at the Canadian Open as she could face French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in the third round and either Elina Svitolina or Maria Sakkari in the quarter-final.
Even the world No 1’s opening match could be a banana skin as she will face either former world No 1 Karolina Pliksova or Zhu Lin in the second round and if she comes through that then she is projected to meet Muchova.
However, 14th seed Muchova – who lost the Roland Garros final in three sets against Swiatek – needs to get past Anastasia Potapova in the first round while she could meet Sorana Cirstea in the second round.
Should Swiatek make it to the quarter-final then she is projected to meet eighth seed Sakkari, although the Greek has an even tougher draw as she opens her campaign against either Svitolina or a qualifier. Victory will set up a meeting against either 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia or Paula Badosa, although Haddad Maia or Badosa will likely have to get past local hope Leylah Fernandez in the second round.
And the draw doesn’t get easier should Swiatek-Sakkari make it to the quarter-final with fourth seed Jessica Pegula the projected opponent. The American, who faces Bernarda Pera or Linda Nosková in the second round, will in all likelihood have to get past Madison Keys in the third round and sixth seed Coco Gauff in the quarter-final.
There are some interesting wildcards in Section 2 though with Venus Williams taking on 13th seed Keys in the first round while 2010 champion Caroline Woznaicki, who will play for the first time since coming out of retirement, kicks off her campaign against a qualifier.
World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka props up the bottom half of the draw along with Elena Rybakina. Australian Open champion Sabalenka starts her campaign against Petra Martić or a qualifier and she is expected to meet Luidmila Samsonova in the third round before potentially taking on either seventh seed Petra Kvitova or 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the quarter-final.
Main draw in Montreal (WTA 1000), where Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Jessica Pegula are the top seeds.
Montreal also sees the return of Caroline Wozniacki.
Notable 1Rs:
Keys-Venus
Kostyuk-Zheng Qinwen
Brady-Ostapenko
Vondrousova-Sherif
Haddad Maia-Badosa pic.twitter.com/EbDphp73Vy— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 4, 2023
Rybakina, meanwhile, has a difficult first assignment as she faces either Jelena Ostapenko or Jennifer Brady in the second round. If the third seed gets through that, then she is projected to meet 16th seed Victoria Azarenka in the third round.
Caroline Garcia is also in the third bracket and the fifth seed will face Marie Bouzkova or a qualifier in round two with 10th seed Daria Kasatkina a projected third-round opponent.
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