The main draw of Wimbledon Championships 2023 got revealed today in the morning after the qualifying stage has been completed yesterday, which emerged 16 players who filled the last bunch of unknown spots in the field of 128 players, who will fight for the title in prestigous Grand Slam tournament on grass.
Qualifiers
After a rough selection of seeded players in penultimate round, the 16 spots got settled on Thursday. 10 out of pre-match favorites related to odds managed to win their decisive battles, while just 4 players from top 16 seeding made it through the whole qualifying stage. Mirra Andreeva was the best ranked player from qualies field to advance into her first ever Wimbledon main draw. The 16 years-old youngster showed up really well during her first appearance on grass. Andreeva won her two opening matches in impressive style, but faced much more demanding opponent in the last match. Tamara Korpatsch fought hard against younger opponent, but Andreeva has won after three sets eventually, moving with a score 7-5 5-7 6-2. Both the players will play in main draw though, as Korpatsch moved in as a lucky loser, same as Nao Hibino who lost to Storm Hunter in straight sets.
Lucrezia Stefanini has denied the great comeback of Su Wei Hsieh after a thrilling battle, which ended up after more than 3 hours. The Italian won 6-2 6-7(3) 7-6(9). The decisive set was a rollercoaster, as Stefanini was up a break by the majority of whole the set and served for the match but did not manage to do so in 10th game. An experienced player from Chinese Taipei was close to turn this set over in 12th game, but did not convert a matchpoint during Stefanini's serve. All was settled in decisive tiebreak, where the Italian converted her 3rd matchpoint and won it 11-9 at the end. It was also the biggest upset related to odds, as Stefanini was rated with an odd 3.21 ahead of the match.
Sofia Kenin won the most interesting match-up on paper, prevailing in the all-American clash against Taylor Townsend. Kenin has comfortably won 6-3 6-3 to come back into Wimbledon's main draw after a year of absence.
Clara Tauson and Brenda Fruhvirtova are the most notable names to get eliminated in last round of qualies. The Dane has lost to Viktoria Kuzmova, while the Ukrainian came up short to Yue Yuan, both in three sets.
1st quarter
Iga Swiatek headlines the top quarter of main draw as the seed number one. The Pole was quite lucky in the draw, as she got possibly the most favourable path out of all the top contenders. Swiatek starts against Lin Zhu in the opening round. The Pole should not expect any serious trouble up to the 4th round, where she can face the players like Belinda Bencic, Danielle Collins or Magda Linette. The Swiss had some good achievements on grass in the past, but has not played any single match since Roland Garros this year, where she fell out in 1st round. Same case about the American, who suffered a big falldown in the rankings, waiting more than 3 months for the victory in any singles match, also skipped the whole grass season. Linette did not repeat the form showed in great run into semis in Australian Open, having some sort of health issues as well later on.
Daria Kasatkina and Cori Gauff are possibly the best in-form players in this section. The Russian advanced into final of WTA 500 tournament in Eastbourne, while Gauff made a run into semis. Both can meet each other in 4th round. The American will start her campaign from an interesting match against her fellowcountry, Sofia Kenin. Another blockbuster match-up is the clash between two big names awarded with wild cards into main draw. Venus Williams will play against Elina Svitolina.
2nd quarter
Jessica Pegula is the highest seed in second quarter. The American starts from another match between two US players, facing Lauren Davis. Her path looks quite formidable in the range of possible first three matches. Pegula can face the players like seeds Liudmila Samsonova and Qinwen Zheng, or Katerina Siniakova in 4th round. Siniakova shows a good form after coming back to competition from injury, as the Czech has advanced into final of WTA 250 in Bad Homburg.
Caroline Garcia is second highest seed in this quarter. It's interesting if the French will manage to rest up well after the shoulder injury suffered in quarterfinals in Eastbourne yesterday. Garcia starts from the match against Katie Volynets. Veronika Kudermetova and Donna Vekic are other in-form seeds in this section. Anett Kontaveit will play her farewell tournament on Wimbledon's grass after announcing the retirement due to health reasons. The Estonian plays against Lucrezia Stefanini in the opening round.
3rd quarter
The bottom half is really stacked with the names of potential favorites to play the important roles in whole the tournament. Elena Rybakina starts her title defence from the match against Shelby Rogers. There are some interesting names on her potential road in the opening rounds. Alize Cornet is a really dangerous player on grass in recent seasons. The French can be Rybakina's opponent in second match. Katie Boulter showed a good run in WTA 250 event in Nottingham, where she celebrated her maiden WTA title. The best ranked Brit plays against Darie Saville in first match. Jelena Ostapenko can set up a hit clash against Rybakina in 4th round. The Latvian who win the WTA 500 in Birmingham starts against the qualifier Greet Minnen. Ostapenko can play against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria in second round. Beatriz Haddad Maia will try to bounce back after unsuccessful grass season in an interesting match against Yulia Putintseva if just the Brazilian recovered from the right leg injury, suffered earlier in the week.
Petra Kvitova will be one of the main contenders to play a big role after winning WTA 500 in Berlin in impressive style. The Czech starts from the match against Jasmine Paolini. Kvitova can set up a hit clash against her titled fellowcountry Karolina Pliskova in 3th round. Ons Jabeur has won just one match during grass season in June and the Tunisian starts from quite a tricky match against Magdalena Frech, who advanced into two consecutive quarterfinals in UK grass swing. Jabeur can meet against Kvitova or Pliskova in 4th round.
4th quarter
Aryna Sabalenka headlines the bottom quarter of a draw. The Belarusian starts against Panna Udvardy, but can set up a hit match against Camila Giorgi as early as in second round. Ekaterina Alexandrova was one of the best players in grass tournaments in June, as the Russian won 8 matches in a row, defending her last year's title in WTA 250 Libema Open. Alexandrova starts from a match against another in-form player, Emma Navarro. The American advanced into semis in WTA 250 Bad Homburg. Alexandrova can set up another great match-up against Karolina Muchova in third round. The runner-up of recent Roland Garros has skipped the grass season at all so far. All of those players can be the possible opponents of Sabalenka in 4th round.
This quarter has some other intriguing match-ups on the cards in first round. Maria Sakkari starts against Marta Kostyuk. The winner of this match will face Paula Badosa or Alison Riske Amritraj in second round. Barbora Krejcikova will show up after the run into final in Birmingham last week. The Czech starts from the match against British wild card receiver, Heather Watson.
Related to tradition, the reigning Wimbledon Champion in ladies draw starts the play on Tuesday, which means that the first round matches of top half will be played on Monday, while the bottom half with Elena Rybakina will start the competition on Tuesday.
