Draw sets up opponents for home players, including first-round all-Czech clash

Saturday’s Livesport Prague Open Draw drew up the main competition of the WTA tournament in the Czech capital. Seven participating Czech players were reduced to just six before the tournament even started, as Petra Kvitová was forced to drop out due to persisting pain in her left hand. Karolína Muchová and Lucie Havlíčková will face each other in the first round in an all-Czech duel, with Barbora Krejčíková, last year’s finalist Tereza Martincová, Marie Bouzková and Linda Nosková also finding out who they will face. 

Nikola Kartusová, the daughter of Barbora Krejčíková’s coach Aleš Kartus, did the honours, setting up a first-round all-Czech clash between Karolína Muchová and Lucie Havlíčková. The winner of this match will move on to face either top seed Anett Kontaveit or Georgian player Ekaterine Gorgodze.

Second seed Barbora Krejčíková, who won last year’s tournament, will face Russian player Anna Blinkova, who is ranked 141th on the WTA World Rankings, in the first round. The winner could face Mihaela Buzărnescu in the following round.

Last year’s finalist Tereza Martincová will face French player Chloé Paquet, an opponent from the second hundred of the WTA World Ranking. If Martincová succeeds, she will face the winner of the match between Sorana Cîrstea and one of the qualifiers.

The two remaining Czech players – Marie Bouzková and Linda Nosková, still have to wait to find out who they will face, with both of them being drawn against either a successful qualifier or a lucky loser of the final round of qualification.

Petra Kvitová and Belinda Bencic have both dropped out of the tournament.

“Petra experienced persisting pain in her left hand during this morning’s training session. The pain limits her serves to such an extent that she can’t participate in the tournament and was forced to drop out last minute,” said tournament spokesman Karel Tejkal.

The main competition will start this Monday, with the winner of the Livesport Prague Open earning not only a cheque for 33,200 USD but also 280 points for the WTA World Rankings. The other finalist will receive 180 points and 19,750 USD.

Livesport Prague Open Draw

Anett Kontaveit (EST, 2.) – Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO, 115.)
Karolína Muchová (CZE, 164.) – Lucie Havlíčková (CZE, 763.)
Vitalia Diatchenko (116.) – Zhu Lin (CHN, 105.)
Sin-jü Wang (CHN, 80.) – Anastasia Potapova (63.)

Elise Mertens (BEL, 30.) – Magda Linette (POL, 66.)
Daria Snigur (UKR, 128.) – Viktoriya Tomova (BUL, 113.)
Qualifier / lucky loser – Rebecca Peterson (SWE, 93.)
Qualifier / lucky loser – Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL, 40.)

Marie Bouzková (CZE, 64.) – Qualifier / lucky loser
Ylena In-Albon (SUI, 124.) – Qualifier / lucky loser
Tereza Martincová (CZE, 71.) – Chloé Paquet (FRA, 103.)
Qualifier / lucky loser – Sorana Cîrstea (ROU, 33.)

Alizé Cornet (FRA, 37.) – Qualifier / lucky loser
Qualifier / lucky loser – Linda Nosková (CZE, 114.)
Mihaela Buzărnescu (ROU, 135.) – Qualifier / lucky loser
Anna Blinkova (141.) – Barbora Krejčíková (CZE, 19.)

Photo: LIVESPORT PRAGUE OPEN / Pavel Lebeda (sport-pics.cz)

Author: eSports

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