Maria Sharapova has been drawn in the top section of the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain, setting up a potential third round clash with top seed Angelique Kerber.
Sharapova, who featured in the Tie Break Tens event last night, must defeat a seed in the first round if she is to have a chance of meeting the top seed later as she is drawn against compatriot and thirteenth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round. Alize Cornet, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Eugenie Bouchard also feature in a star-studded top section. Top seed Kerber starts against Timea Babos.
Elina Svitolina and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the two seeds most likely to produce the player that will meet Kerber in the quarter-finals. Svitolina will start with a qualifier, and Kuznetsova with Yaroslava Shvedova.
Fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova will start with former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic, with Monica Puig and Kristina Mladenovic also in her section. Madison Keys looks to have a clear path to at least the quarter-finals after he scheduled opponent in the third round, Agnieszka Radwanska was forced out by injury. She will be replaced by a lucky loser.
Britain’s Johanna Konta heads the next section, and has a tricky first round encounter with Laura Siegemund. Carla Suarez Navarro and Caroline Wozniacki are also both in her section. Simona Halep is many people’s pick both for this title and for Roland Garros which gets underway later this month. The third seed starts with Kristyna Pliskova and could face former US Open winner Sam Stosur in third round.
Defending Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza is in the final quarter, with Elina Vesninia for company. Muguruza will first have to play Timea Bacsinszky. Second seed Karolina Pliskova will start with Lesia Tsurenko, with Barbora Strycova or Lucie Safarova potential third round opponents.
