The WTA 250 Tennis in the Land tournament hosted in Cleveland is the last women's event of US Open Series. After a busy and demanding schedule, containing three weeks of playing in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati, some of the players head into Cleveland to earn ranking points and additional match practice just before the start of Grand Slam in New York, which kicks-off in just about one week.
Caroline Garcia headlines the main draw in Cleveland as a top seed. Current world's number 6 received a late wild card, entering this event after the series of 4 loses in a row. It's a really tough period for the French, who played superb second half of the season in 2022, which helped her to lift up into top 10 for a long time. Garcia stays in front of the pressure related to covering the points earned last year, which will be consequently deducted from her ranking, if she does not cover it with any decent results. The winner of last year's WTA Finals still waits for her first match victory in US Open Series, as all her three tournament appearances in August ended up after just one match.
Linda Fruhvirtova is an opponent of Garcia in first round. The 18 years-old who was one of the sensations during the opening phases of the season, does also suffer a tough time. Fruhvirtova is currently on a roll of 6 consecutive losses, containing the upsets in first round of qualifiers in Montreal and Cincinnati. The Czech has won just 2 out of 12 last matches and stays in front of a difficult challenge to break herself through in a match against a top seed in Cleveland.
Barbora Krejcikova is a main draw's second seed. Current world's number 11 came back to the competition in Cincinnati after a few weeks of break, coming up short to Victoria Azarenka in first round. The Czech will seek for winning some matches in Cleveland, starting from the match against one of the qualifiers. Krejcikova can set up an interesting battle against Leylah Fernandez in second round. The Canadian received a wild card and plays against Linda Noskova in opening match.
Veronika Kudermetova and Ekaterina Alexandrova are the 3rd and 4th seeds, also looking for their first victories after resuming the hard courts season. Both the Russians played well on grass in June, but their comeback into competition on HC in Cincinnati was not successful, as it ended up with first round exit in both cases. The lose of Kudermetova was especially surprising, as she suffered a huge upset from Venus Williams.
The 43 years-old legend and 7 times Grand Slam champion defeated the world's top 20 player in straight sets in Cincinnati. Williams looks for another confidence boost before the US Open, where she appears as a main draw's wild card receiver. The American sets up an exciting match-up against Mirra Andreeva in the opening round of Tennis in the Land event. The 16 years-old youngster was a sensation of two last Grand Slam tournaments in Paris and London. Cleveland's event will be her first hard court tournament played in 2023 year and it's really interesting to see, how Andreeva manages to play against a legendary opponent with an age difference of 27 years between both.
Williams is one of 5 players from United States, who got a direct main draw entrance before filling up the qualifiers' places. The home crowd will be surely interested in a match between Sloane Stephens and Lauren Davis - the only one all-American clash in opening round. Emma Navarro will play against a sensational quarterfinalist from WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati - Jasmine Paolini, while Peyton Stearns waits for her first round's match against one of qualifiers.
