WTA Dubai draw: Rybakina No 1 seed, Gauff, Raducanu, Eala all in top half
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina will likely have to beat Qatar Open finalist Karolina Muchova, world No 9 Elina Svitolina and two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff if she is to reach the final of the Dubai Tennis Championship.
With world No 1 Aryna Sablaneka and world No 2 Iga Swiatek withdrawing from the WTA 1000 event, Rybakina has inherited the top seed status and she – along with the other top eight seeds – will have a bye into the second round.
The Kazakh star will start her campaign against either Tatjana Maria or a qualifier before a possible meeting with 15th seed Muchova in the third round.
Muchova, who will face Victoria Mboko in the final of the Qatar Open on Saturday, starts off against a qualifier or a lucky loser and if she wins her opener she could face Emma Raducanu in the second round. Raducanu also faces a lucky loser/qualifier in the first round.
If seedings hold, then Rybakina is scheduled to face seventh seed Svitolina in the quarter-final although the Ukrainian has a tough path.
She faces either Paula Badosa or Katerina Siniakova in the second round before a possible meeting with ninth seed Belinda Bencic in the third round.
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Rybakina is projected to meet third seed Gauff in the last four of the tournament, but the American has struggled recently as she is coming off a shock second-round exit in Doha.
The third seed will face either Jelena Ostapenko – a semi-finalist in Qatar – or Anna Kalinskaya – who reached the quarter-final this week – in the second round while 14th seed Emma Navarro is a possible third round opponent.
A Gauff-Jasmine Paolini quarter-final is on the cards, but the latter will likely have to navigate her way past Alex Eala, who faces a qualifier/lucky loser in the first round, and 10th seed Linda Noskova en route to the last eight.
World No 4 Anisimova headlines the bottom half of the draw and she will start against either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Barbora Krejcikova while she could meet 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova in the third round and defending champion Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-final.
However, Andreeva will likely have to beat the in-form Victoria Mboko, a finalist in Qatar, in the third round.
The fifth-seeded Andreeva faces either Laura Siegemund or Daria Kasatkina in the second round while 11th seed Mboko starts her campaign against Jaqueline Cristian before a possible meeting with Cristina Bucsa.
The winner of Section 4 will likely face fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the semi-final with the American handed a kind draw.
Pegula starts against a lucky loser/qualifier in the second round before a possible all-American clash against 18-year-old compatriot Iva Jovic while she is projected to meet eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarter-final.
Projected Dubai Quarter-Finals:
Rybakina v Svitolina
Gauff v Paolini
Alexandrova v Pegula
Andreeva v Anisimova
