WTA Tour: What to look forward to in February 2023

WTA Tour

James Richardson
January 30, 2023

A triple threat of events takes the WTA Tour into February this week with a low-key start to the second month.

The WTA Tour scatters after the Australian Open with events in Cali in Colombia, Hua Hin in Thailand and back in Europe in Lyon, France.

The Copa Oster is a WTA 125 while the Open 6e Sens Métropole de Lyon and Thailand Open are WTA 250.

Cali also plays host to the only clay cour event in a month full of outdoor hard court events.

Much of the focus for February is the so-called Middle-East swing which is headlined by the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Championships.

There will also be a WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi as well as the Qatar Open in Doha.

The Abu Dhabi Open kicks off the swing between 6-12 February while there is a parallel WTA 250 event in Linz.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka is the defending champion in Abu Dhabi but it remains to be seen if she returns to the tour in time to defend her crown.

However, the Qatar Open has no alternative sanctioned by WTA Tour ahead of the WTA 1000 event in Dubai which will be the big attraction the following week.

Jelena Ostapenko won the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships in her best result of the season, despite not being seeded for the tournament.

There are alternatives for those who can’t qualify or enter or don’t wish to travel to the UAE.

Ahead of March’s Sunshine double, the WTA Tour heads back to North American at the end of February.

The WTA 250 Merida Open in Mexico runs alongside the Dubai Tennis Championships for players hoping to acclimatise to the late winter early spring conditions.

The Abierto GNP Seguros takes place in the Mexican city of Monterrey with Leylah Fernandez expected to return to defend the title she has won in back-to-back seasons.

Also in the final week of February, we will see the tour return to the United States as Austin hosts the ATX Open, a WTA 250 event set to take place between 27 February and 5 March.

February will be a busy month for players looking to get themselves up and running on the tour by sheer grunt, while others will be more focused on preparing for Indian Wells and the Miami Open which dominate the March schedule.

You can download the WTA Tour calendar here.