Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka are in the spotlight at the first WTA 500 tournament of the 2022 season in Adelaide.
The line-up of the Adelaide International features five of the top 10 players, including top 2 players Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka, 2021 Adelaide defending champion and 2020 Roland Garros winner Iga Swiatek, and Maria Sakkari, who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and at the US Open in 2021.
Paula Badosa will face a opening round clash against Victoria Azarenka in a re-match of last October’s Indian Wells final. Badosa battled past Azarenka 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 7-6 (7-2) in one of the best matches of the 2021 season. The winner of this match will face either two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Priscilla Hon.
Barty will play her first tournament since the 2021 US Open. The Australian player won five titles in 2021 at the Yarra Valley Classic, Miami, Stuttgart, Wimbledon and Cincinnati. Barty and Sabalenka have byes into the second round.
The top seed could face a tough second round match against 17-year-old US star Coco Gauff, who will open her campaign against a qualifier. Barty has been drawn in the top half with Swiatek, Badosa, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Petra Kvitova and 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
The bottom half of the draw features Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina, who reached the semifinals in Miami and Stuttgart and won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo.
Sakkari will face 2021 Roland Garros semifinalist Tamara Zidansek in the first round match. Rybakina will play against Australian wild card Storm Sanders. Svitolina will take on Anastasia Gasonova.
Osaka and Halep lead the line-up at Melbourne Summer Set
The Melbourne Summer Set features two simultaneous WTA 250 tournaments at Melbourne Park.
Last year’s Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka and former Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep are the top two seeds at the Melbourne Summer Set 1.
Osaka will face France’s Alizé Cornet in the first round. The winner will meet either Petra Martic or Maryna Zanevska.
Last November’s Billie Jean King Cup Liudmila Samsonova will face Germany’s Andrea Petkovic in the opening round. Samsonova could be on a collision course for a potential clash against Osaka in the quarter finals.
World number 18 and top seed Jessica Pegula leads the line-up at the Melbourne Summer Set 2. Pegula will make her debut against Irina Camelia Begu. Elise Mertens will face a qualifier in the first round.
The Melbourne Summer Set 2 also features Daria Kasatkina, Sara Sorribes Tormo and 19-year-old Danish player Clara Tauson, Ukraine’s Clara Tauson and US Amanda Anisimova.
Former US Open champion Samantha Stosur will face a qualifier in the opening round. Stosur, who is now ranked world number 382, announced that she will make the final Australian Open appearance of her career.
