The action in WTA tournaments does not fall asleep, as just two days after the end of the women's US Open 2023, another big event is about to start with the Cymbiotika San Diego Open scheduled to be played next week. Traditionally, start of the weekend before the WTA 500 event brings us the qualifying action and reveal of main draw, which is already known before the start of the tournament in California.
Apart from the WTA 500 event in San Diego, there is also another WTA level event played in Japan next week. The WTA 250 tournament in Osaka practically starts the Asian swing of hard courts tournaments in Japan, China and Korea, which is going to conclude this year's season up and settle the line up of the WTA finals.
WTA 500 San Diego main draw analysis
The line-up of WTA 500 event in San Diego is pretty stacked with all the 8 seeds being ranked in top 20 of WTA rankings. The question about who is the favorite to make deep run is open though, as top seeds of this tournament have really struggled with their performance in recent weeks.
Ons Jabeur headlines the draw as a number one. The Tunisian receives a bye in opening round, same as other top 4 seeds - Caroline Garcia, Maria Sakkari and Barbora Krejcikova. Jabeur will play against Alycia Parks or Anastasia Potapova in second round. The first quarter delivers an interesting clash between 6th seed Veronika Kudermetova and the 2020 Australian Open champion - Sofia Kenin.
Maria Sakkari comes back to action after disappointing first round exit in the US Open. The Greek is seeded with number three and headlines the second quarter of a draw, which contains just 3 names as for now. Four of the qualifiers are about to be placed in this section, which contains also the name of Belinda Bencic. The Swiss is seeded with number 5 and can set up a potential hit against Sakkari in the quarterfinals.
Barbora Krejcikova received a late wild card into San Diego Open. The Czech who has started the season brilliantly, struggles with form and health issues in recent months. Krejcikova will try to break the series of 4 losses in a row, as she waits for any single win since the opening round of Wimbledon. The Roland Garros 2021 champion can meet her fellowcountry Karolina Pliskova in second round. Pliskova does also look forward to gain her form back, as she won just 3 out of 13 last matches played. The opportunity to come back on winning track is quite decent, as she plays against Anhelina Kalinina, who also struggles with form since the sensational run into final of WTA 1000 in Rome. Third quarterf of a draw broughts a clash between Beatriz Haddad Maia and Leylah Fernandez, which can be expected to be a long and intense battle between both.
Caroline Garcia headlines the last quarter of a draw as tournament's second seed. The French will try to bounce back after first round exit in US Open and disappointing start of the hard courts swing, where she defends a ton of points from last year's spectacular run of form. Garcia is still ranked in top 10 of WTA rankings, but holds just 25th place in the race for 2023, looking forward to get some breakthrough. The task will not be easy, as the last quarter is really stacked. Garcia plays against Elise Mertens or Sloane Stephens in second round. This section contains also the names of Ekaterina Alexandrova, Jelena Ostapenko and Danielle Collins. The Russian and the Latvian set up the hit clash of the opening round. Collins plays against the qualifier, but in case of winning, her match against one of those two will surely be one of the most intriguing battles of second round.
WTA 250 Osaka main draw analysis
The field of WTA 250 event in Osaka is not as impressive as the San Diego Open in terms of big names taking part in the action, but does also contain the players who achieved some notable results in recent weeks. Lin Zhu is the seed number one there. The Chinese looks forward to continue a good run of form after achieving the semifinals in Cleveland and reaching out the 3rd round of US Open. Zhu plays against Xiyu Wang in first round. Tatjana Maria is second seed, playing in Osaka while being close to her highest rank in a long professional career so far. The German comes to Japan just after an impressive on hard courts in August, where she achieved the semifinals of WTA 250 events in Warsaw and Cleveland and took the trophy in the WTA 125 challenger in Barranquilla. Maria meets Panna Udvardy in the opening round. The other top seeds set up some interesting opening round's matches. Xin Yu Wang is seeded with number three, just after a surprising run into 4th round of the US Open. The Chinese plays against Jil Teichmann, who plays a super disappointing season so far. The Swiss, who was the top 30 member for almost whole last year, has dropped down into 148th place in the rankings with just 9 matches won at the WTA level in the 2023 season. Linda Fruhvirtova comes to Osaka as a 4th seed, waiting for the breakthrough after 8 matches lost in a row right now. The young Czech will try to break this series in a match against Harriet Dart.
Here is the main draw of the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka:
