Emma Raducanu has been dealt a rough hand at the Abu Dhabi Open as she will face a former Wimbledon champion in the first round. The British No 2 initially entered the qualifying competition of the WTA event, but was promoted to the main draw as a wildcard just hours before she was due to compete on Saturday. But that was where the good news stopped for Raducanu as she has been handed a difficult opener against Marketa Vondrousova while she could face fourth seed Yulia Putintseva in the second round if she wins.
Raducanu is so far in after she lost in the third round of the Australian Open before suffering a three-set defeat to Cristina Busca at the Singapore Tennis Open earlier this week. The US Open winner is currently at No 56 in the WTA Rankings, but she has 60 points to defend after reaching the second round of the player singles draw in The Vondrousova encounter will be difficult, but the Czech has had some injury woes as she has played only one completed match so far this year due to injury.
The world No 36 sustained a shoulder injury during the Adelaide Open and then withdrew from the Australian Open. Can Iga Swiatek return to No 1? Will Madison Keys, Emma Raducanu play? If the seedings hold, then world No 20 Putintseva will meet fifth seed Liudmila Samsonova in the quarter-final.
Although Samsonova will need to get past Polini Kudermetova in the first round and possibly Belind Bencic in the second round. Defending champion Rybakina will start her title defence against a qualifier while she is projected to play seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko — who has a win-loss record this year — or Jabeur in the quarter-final. Third seed Daria Kasatkina, who finished runner-up last year, also features in the bottom half and she is projected to meet eighth seed Leylah Fernandez in the quarter-final.
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