Defending champion Swiatek and other top-eight seeds get first round bye
Defending champion Swiatek and other top-eight seeds get first round bye
The tournament's top-eight seeds— Defending champion Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur, Qinwen Zheng, Marketa Vondrousova,Maria Sakkari, and Jelena Ostapenko—all got a first-round bye at the end of the draw ceremony of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2024 held at the Media Center of the Khalifa Intrernational Tennis and Squash Complex on Friday.
In attendance at the event were Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi, QTF Board Member Karim Alami, VP HR, Communication, and CSR at Qatar TotalEnergies Abdullah Mohsein, QTF Board Member Mohammed Al Sobaie, and other dignitaries and invited guests.
World No. 1 Swiatek, who will be attempting to make history in Doha as the first three-time winner of the Golden Falcon trophy, will be waiting on the wings to face the winner of the clash between the USA's Sloane Stephens and Frenchwoman Sorana Cirstea in the second round, while Gauff, the world No. 3, will be up against whoever emerges as the winner between Katerina Siniakova and Donna Vekic.
Rybakina, on the other hand, will be waiting for the outcome of the Lin Zhu versus Varvara Gracheva encounter to know her second round opponent, while Arab and African sensation Ons Jabeur of Tunisia will take on whoever remained standing after the clash between Zeynep Sonmez and Lesla Tsurenko.
With the draw, the path to the final for record-attempting Swiatek will likely involve a potential clash with 14-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 16, while Jabeur's dream of becoming the first Arab winner of the tournament may likely pass through the test of former World No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka in the round of 16, all things being equal.
A total of $3,211,715 is up for grabs in prize money at the 22nd edition of the annual tennis tournament, which has continued to receive amazing ratings and applause globally for its superb organization and quality of play. The outdoor hard courts tournament's is the first WTA 1000 event of the season, and the main court of the ultra-modern tennis complex is set to welcome 7,000 spectators for a week-long fiesta of tennis that concludes on February 17.
"We are extremely delighted to have the array of top stars featured at this year's event. With the event now a WTA 1000 tournament, the quality of play is also expected to improve considerably, considering what is at stake, which means more entertainment, excitement, and fun for all participants and attendees. As usual, all hands have been put on the deck to ensure a quality time for everyone, and I can't wait enough to have the main event serve off on Sunday," said Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi.
Held since 2001, the Qatar TotalEnergies Open is one of the signature events on the WTA Tour calendar and a most sought-after tournament in the region. Time and again, the stars have heaped praise on the organizers for the perfect organization and the hospitality rolled out to them by the organizers.
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