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QATAR TOTAL OPEN 2018 DRAW HELD
Vinay Nayudu
Doha
When you have a field of 64 players including the world's top ten, then the luck of the draw for the opening rounds isn't of much help. So it is for many at the $3,173,000 Qatar Total Open 2018 WTA Premier 5 category tournament, the draw for which was held on Saturday.
While the top eight seeds, which includes 2018 Australian open champion & World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and World No. 2 & second seed Simona Halep of Romania, have received first round byes, eight others have drawn to play qualifiers in their opening matches including former World No.1 and twice champion in Doha (2005 & 2008) Maria Sharapova of Russia.
Big start first up, however, will be for Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova (World No. 30) who had drawn Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ranked 22) placed in the bottom half. The clash between the two should provide for some early fireworks.
An excited Daria Kasatkina, who was present at the draw ceremony, awaits a qualifier and seems to be in good state of mind in what is her third visit to Doha.
"I don't know if I am happy or not (meeting a qualifier) because this is one of the best tournaments during the year and you can't expect easy opponents, but I am happy that I'm here and am not really worried about whom I play next," said the 20-year-old, who arrive from St. Petersburg where she beat Wozniacki in the quarter-final in straight sets.
"The beginning of the season was slow for me, but then I went to St Petersburg and I began to find my game and I was playing much better. I have gained some confidence now," said Kasatkina of her good show.
For now though she is enjoying the weather."It's very nice here compared to Russia. I am coming from St Petersburg where the temperature is in the minus and it is snowing. Here, I'm happy that I can walk in the shorts. It's pretty warm but for you its winter here. For us players, it's just perfect," she quipped.
Sharapova, meanwhile, will await the winner of the opener between 14th seed Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) and Oman's wild card entrant Fatma al Nabhani. Seasoned and experienced at the Qatar tournament, Fatma was cheerful and hopeful of her chances.
"It's a very tough first round. Also the first time that I will be playing her and hopefully it will be a good match. You never know what's gonna happen. If I happen to win my first round, then I have to probably play Sharapova in the second! I will do my best," said a smiling Fatma, who also watched the draw taking place in company of Kasatkina, Elena Vesnina and Tunisia's Ons Jabeur.
"This field is one of the toughest in Qatar Total Open and a lot of tough first rounds and hopefully we are going to enjoy that and the spectators as well.
"I am glad and thankful to the organisers in Qatar for giving me this opportunity to play here. The support is unlimited for us and I really appreciate that and hopefully I shall try and deliver my best," added Fatma.
Russia's Vesnina, who excels in both singles and doubles also termed the championship as a"very strong tournament".
"All the big players are here and it would great to win the title here. It's one of my goals," she stressed.
Comparing the contest in Qatar to that of a Grand Slam, she said."You can see every round and every match, it's going to be like a quarter-final or semi-final in some of the tournaments. It's like a Grand Slam and the rankings are very close at the beginning of the year, so everyone is kind of fresh and hungry for the wins so Doha will see some great tennis this week."
On her playing both the singles and doubles, the 31-year-old Vesnina, who is ranked 31 in singles and No.3 in doubles, said,"It's not easy, so I only play at big tournaments and I am not playing every week because it's really difficult for the body and the mind as well. I'm trying to be very smart with my scheduling so that we can do well here in singles and doubles."
In an opening round all-German affair, Tatjana Maria will meet Carina Witthoeft on Monday when the seven-day fiesta begins at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
Women's Singles (1st Round)
(1) C. Wozniacki (DEN) - Bye
T. Maria (GER) vs. C. Witthoeft (GER)
Qualifier vs. [WC] M. Sharapova (RUS)
(WC) F. Al Nabhani (OMA) vs.
(14) M. Rybarikova (SVK)
(10) J. Konta (GBR) vs. Qualifier
C. Suarez Navarro (ESP) vs. Qualifier
S. Stosur (AUS) vs. I. Begu (ROU)
(8) A. Kerber (GER) - Bye
(3) E. Svitolina (UKR) - Bye
Y. Putintseva (KAZ) vs. Qualifier
M. Barthel (GER) vs. A. Radwanska (POL)
(WC) C. Buyukakcay (TUR) vs.
(16) P. Kvitova (CZE)
(9) J. Goerges (GER) vs. L. Safarova (CZE)
B. Strycova (CZE) vs. A. Krunic (SRB)
L. Tsurenko (UKR) vs. M. Buzarnescu (ROU)
(6) J. Ostapenko (LAT) - Bye
(7) C. Garcia (FRA) - Bye
D. Cibulkova (SVK) vs. A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
E. Vesnina (RUS) vs. Qualifier
S. Peng (CHN) vs. (11) K. Mladenovic (FRA)
(15) E. Mertens (BEL) vs. T. Babos (HUN)
M. Sakkari (GRE) vs. S. Cirstea (ROU)
(WC) O. Jabeur (TUN) vs. Qualifier
(4) G. Muguruza (ESP) - Bye
(5) K. Pliskova (CZE) - Bye
A. Kontaveit (EST) vs. A. Cornet (FRA)
Qualifier vs. D. Kasatkina (RUS)
Q. Wang (CHN) vs. (12) M. Keys (USA)
(13) A. Sevastova (LAT) vs. D. Vekic (CRO)
Qualifier vs. K. Siniakova (CZE)
E. Makarova (RUS) vs. S. Zhang (CHN)
(2) S. Halep (ROU) - Bye
(Seeding precedes player’s name)
Tournament runs February 12 to 18.
