Once the emotions regarding Roland Garros and whole the main part of clay season in 2023 are over, the next week brings the start of WTA level competitions on grass courts, just 3 weeks before the start of main draw in Wimbledon Championships. Two WTA 250 level tournaments are scheduled this week - Libema Open in s'Hertogenbosch and Rothesay Open in Nottingham.
Rothesay Open main draw
Maria Sakkari and Beatriz Haddad Maia are the two players from top 10 to compete this week and both were granted with wild cards into main draw in Nottingham. Sakkari will play her first grass match of the season against Xiyu Wang, while Haddad Maia has not so much time to recover after a long and demanding run in Paris. The Brazilian who debuts as a top 10 player, plays an interesting match against Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round.
Magda Linette is the third seed and starts her tournament from a match against one of the qualifiers. 4th seed Donna Vekic plays against Cristina Bucsa in first round. Camila Giorgi sets up an interesting match-up between two experienced players, as the 7th seeded Italian plays starts from a match against Madison Brengle.
Libema Open main draw
Three players from top 20 have approached Netherlands to play in Libema Open. Veronika Kudermetova is a top seed there. The world's number 14 will want to bounce back after disappointing Roland Garros appearance, as she got eliminated in the opening round just after two consecutive WTA 1000 semifinals. Kudermetova plays against Alison Riske Amritraj in first match. The American did not have a good luck in the draw while trying to break the series of 8 consecutive loses and still looking for the first main draw victory in 2023 this season. Liudmila Samsonova and Victoria Azarenka are the 2nd and 3rd seeds and both play against qualifiers in their opening matches.
Venus Williams comes back
The comeback of Venus Williams is definitely a headline of the opening days of tournament in s'Hertogenbosch. The American got awarded with a wild card, and plays against another WC receiver, Celine Naef from Switzerland. Williams comes back to the competition after 5 months. Her last appearance took place in first week of this season in Auckland. Williams managed to win one match there and was supposed to play in Australian Open two weeks later, but has needed to pull out due to an injury.
