10 Things To Know: Week One

10 Things To Know: Week One

  • Posted: Jan 02, 2016

Well, it’s here – the first week of the 2016 season! And what a week it is with almost every big name in action across three WTA events and one of the biggest exhibition events of the year on the menu.

So let’s get to it… here are 10 Things To Know about Brisbane, Shenzhen, Auckland and Hopman Cup!

1) Brisbane, the biggest tournament of Week 1, has four Top 10 players in the draw.
The Brisbane International, the only Premier-level event in Week 1, has an absolutely packed field headlined by Top 10ers Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber.

2) Halep and Sharapova could play in the semifinals in Brisbane.
The World No.2 and World No.4 are the No.1 and No.3 seeds and both fell in the top half of the draw – we could have a blockbuster semifinal on our hands. Here are Sharapova’s thoughts on Halep.

3) Halep could face another future hall-of-famer right out of the gates.
Should she get past a qualifier in her first round match, Victoria Azarenka would be Halep’s very first opponent of the new season. And the former World No.1 is hoping to reach new heights in 2016.

4) The threats in Brisbane don’t end there…
The other four seeds are all ranked in the Top 15 – Timea Bacsinszky, Carla Suárez Navarro, Belinda Bencic and Roberta Vinci. A ton of other former Top 10 players are also in the draw – see it here.

5) We could have a repeat of the WTA Finals final in Shenzhen.
Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova, who squared off in the final of the WTA Finals in Singapore, could set up a rematch should they make it through their halves of the draw at the Shenzhen Open.

6) But let’s not pencil that final in just yet…
A whole host of big-time challengers are hoping to thwart the Top 2 seeds at the International-level event, including Eugenie Bouchard, a former Top 5 player eyeing a rebound. See the draw here.

7) Three former World No.1s headline in Auckland.
Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki are the Top 3 seeds at the International-level ASB Classic. This is Venus’ first tournament as a Top 10 player since the 2011 Australian Open.

8) Two more Grand Slam champions also made the trip to New Zealand.
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone are also in the draw in Auckland, and if they make it by their first round opponents, they could play in the second round. Check out the full draw here.

9) The World No.1 is playing Hopman Cup this week.
Serena Williams, who’s on the verge of even more history in 2016, opens her season at Hopman Cup in Perth, partnering Jack Sock as part of the US team. Karolina Pliskova, who actually out-aced Serena in 2015, and other big names like Sabine Lisicki and Elina Svitolina have also made the trip to Perth.

10) Check out all the best live action this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV.

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