Big names Svitolina and Wozniacki to face up in Classic first round
Elina Svitolina will play against Caroline Wozniacki in a blockbuster first-round match at the ASB Classic, with the winner of it potentially playing Emma Raducanu in the next round.
Yesterday afternoon’s draw sets up a mouth-watering match that could be the best of the entire tournament.
Svitolina, the former world No 3, took part in the official draw, picking up plastic discs and flipping them over to reveal the number on each one to determine who would play who.
Because she is the second seed, Svitolina’s name was at the bottom of the draw and as the Ukrainian continued flipping over the discs, putting lesser-known players against each other, it was becoming increasingly likely that the tournament’s biggest stars could be drawhn against each other. Raducanu was drawn against a qualifier, while Wozniacki’s disc was the final one turned over, to confirm a match that was more befitting for the final than the opening round.
As Wozniacki and Raducanu were unseeded and needed wildcards in Auckland,
there was always the potential for the draw to turn out like this, but it was a shock for tournament organisers to see it become a reality.
“It’s going to be a tough one, but I’m really looking forward to the match,” Svitolina said of facing Wozniacki.
“When I found out Caroline was coming back I wanted to play against her and it’s
going to be an exciting one.”
Classic tournament director Nicolas Lamperin was anxiously watching the draw, sitting next to Svitolina and waiting for the big names to come out.
“I was waiting for the last one (Wozniacki), I knew it was coming,” Lamperin said.
“It’s what we’ve been saying with the beginning. With the players we have, we’ll
have exciting matches from day one and this is what the tournament is all about, it’s not just about the semis and the final, but a full week of great tennis.”
The Sunday Star-Times understands Wozniacki wants to play her first-round match on Tuesday. If that happens, it will be part of a stunning session which will also include Coco Gauff’s first-round match
against fellow American Claire Liu.
It’s fair to say most of the interest will be in the bottom of the draw, as Amanda Anisimova is also in the fourth quarter of it and is on target to play the winner of the second-round match between potentially Raducanu and either Wozniacki or Svitolina.
Gauff has four qualifiers in her quarter and might not strike a tough opponent until she could face Emma Navarro from the States in the semifinals.
New Zealand’s Monique Barry, who won the playoff tournament for her wildcard, will be up against Elina Avanesyan from Russia in the first round. Avanesyan is ranked 73 in the world, while Barry is at 628, so it will be a tough match for the 21-year-old from Taranaki, but the biggest opportunity of her career so far.
Meanwhile, there were defeats for all three New Zealanders in the first round of qualifying. Elyse Tse lost to Brenda Fruhvirtova from the Czech Republic 6-1 7-6, Jade Otway was defeated by Carole Monnet from France 6-3 6-3, while Valentina Ivanov went down by the same scoreline to Taiwan’s Yang Ya-Yi.