WTA 500 Rothesay International in Eastbourne is the biggest tournament of the last week before Wimbledon Championships, alongside to the qualifying action in London and WTA 250 event in Germany's Bad Homburg. The field which is set up to compete in Eastbourne is really impressive, as 8 players from the top 10 of WTA rankings are the seeds of second and last WTA 500 grass event in this season.
Elena Rybakina headlines a stunning top half of main draw. The reigning Wimbledon champion and one of the favorites of this year's edition of the prestigious Grand Slam, is seeded with number one in Eastbourne. Rybakina will start her week from the match against the qualifier and can play against Madison Keys in second round. The American starts her grass season in Eastbourne with no matches on grass surface under her belt so far this year.
Another match-ups in this quarter are really electric. Barbora Krejcikova, who approached the final of WTA 250 Rothesay Open in Birmingham, plays against the UK number one Katie Boutler, who celebrated her career's maiden title in WTA 250 event in Nottingham a week before. The new top 10 player and last year's semifinalist from Eastbourne - Beatriz Haddad Maia, got paired up against Marie Bouzkova - the quarterfinalist of Wimbledon 2022.
Jessica Pegula has took some rest after an intensive workload in the opening months of this season with multiple on-court appearances in both singles and doubles. The American starts her grass season in Eastbourne after 3 weeks of break and sets up an interesting match against Qinwen Zheng.
The match between Petra Kvitova and Jelena Ostapenko is an absolute hit clash of the opening round in bottom half. It's the match-up between the winners of two recent editions of Eastbourne tournament, as Kvitova defends her last year's title and Ostapenko won there two years ago. This is also a revenge for last year's final, as the Latvian got defeated by Kvitova in the title clash in 2022. Both players seem to be in a good form, as Kvitova approached the final in WTA 500 in Berlin, while Ostapenko advanced into final in WTA 250 in Birmingham. The quality and emotions are guaranteed there.
Ons Jabeur will play an intriguing match against Marketa Vondrousova. Both players have already met twice this year in Australian Open and Indian Wells and the Czech has won both matches. It will be another tough battle for the Tunisian, as the last year's Wimbledon runner-up has played just one match on grass this year, being defeated by Jule Niemeier in the opening round of WTA 500 in Berlin while Vondrousova managed to reach out the quarters in the same event.
Caroline Garcia and Maria Sakkari are another big names in bottom half. Both the French and the Greek approach Eastbourne after reaching out the semifinals in Berlin. Garcia, seeded with number two, got awarded with a wild card into main draw in Eastbourne, same as home representatives Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart.
