The 2019 edition of ASB Classic Auckland will feature some of the biggest names on the WTA Tour – Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, and Victoria Azarenka. They will be joined by the defending champion Julia Goerges and the former World No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard.
The event in Auckland is among the very first tournaments of the season and will mark the start of the 2019 WTA Tour. Even though it is an International tier event, it draws in prominent players every season owing to its significance in the build-up to the Australian Open.
Played in the first week of January, the top seed for the tournament has been awarded to Wozniacki, who is currently ranked as the World No. 3. Last year, she lost in the final to Goerges at Auckland and will be looking forward to going the distance here. However, she did win the Australian Open soon thereafter and eventually followed it with titles in Eastbourne and Beijing.
Placed in her opposite bracket will be Goerges, who was ranked as the World No. 9 for a short while in 2018. She was a semifinalist at the Wimbledon, a runner-up at Charleston, and capped the season by winning the WTA Luxembourg.
As for the former World No. 1 Venus Williams, she will be looking forward to turning her form around in Auckland after a disappointing spell in 2018. She ended her season with a win-loss of 17/11, without a singles title.
Similarly, Eugenie Bouchard is another player who will be hoping for a similar turnaround. The 24-year-old, who was in the top 10 just four years ago, is currently ranked as the World No. 88. She had to start as a qualifier in many tournaments but couldn’t do enough to get past the subsequent rounds. Nonetheless, she is more than capable of going the distance here and has certainly got what it takes to win big.
The two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka is also set to play in Auckland and is returning to the tournament after more than a decade. She is currently ranked at the 51st position and will be keen on repeating her antics at Melbourne again. However, her journey to the top starts in Auckland and it will be exciting to see how she fares against these big names.
Other participants include the Olympic Gold-medalist Monica Puig, Taipei No. 1 Su-Wei Hsieh, Barbora Strycova, and Petra Martic. On paper, this looks like a pretty compelling draw and needless to mention, highly entertaining.
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