WTA Citi Open draw: Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka set for rematch

Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka will face each other for the second time in a matter of weeks on Monday as they will square off at the Washington Open.

The pair met in the fourth round at Wimbledon in mid-July in what was one of the matches of the tournament and on that occasion it was wildcard Svitolina who came out in top as she upset the 16th seed 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).

That match, of course, ended without a handshake between the two due to Svitolina and other Ukrainian players’ policy of not shaking hands with players from Russia and Belarus following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine last year.

And don’t expect to see handshakes when the two meet in the first round of the WTA 500 event at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center as the no-handshake policy will continue.

Svitolina received a wildcard into the tournament as she only returned to the Tour in April after giving birth in October last year. However since her return she has won the Internationaux de Strasbourg, reached the quarter-final of the French Open and the semi-final at Wimbledon.

The Ukrainian has surged to No 27 in the WTA Rankings on the back of those performances, but the Washington entry list was confirmed before her recent rise, hence the wildcard. Former world No 1 Azarenka, meanwhile, sits at No 19 in the rankings.

It will be their seventh career meeting and Svitolina’s Wimbledon win was her first-ever victory over Azarenka.

The player who emerges victorious is projected to meet fifth seed Daria Kasatkina in the second round, although the world No 11 needs to get past Elise Mertens first.

And it doesn’t get easier after that as top seed Jessica Pegula is likely to await in the quarter-final. The world No 4 takes on either wildcard Sofia Kenin or qualifier Magdalena Frech in the second round.

If the form book holds then Maria Sakkari is likely to be the semi-final opponent, although the fourth seed has struggled in recent weeks. The Greek opens her account against either Leylah Fernandez or Bernarda Pera and she is projected to meet seventh seed Madison Keys in the quarter-final.

The bottom half of the draw features Caroline Garcia and Coco Gauff.

Second seed Garcia faces either 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu or Marta Kostyuk in the second round while she is projected to take on Liudmilla Samsonova in the quarter-final. Although eighth seed Samsonova will need to get past Danielle Collins in the first round and either Petra Martic or Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

Third seed Gauff, meanwhile, will face either former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova or qualifier Hailey Baptiste in the second round while she is projected to meet sixth seed Belinda Bencic in the last eight.

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