Former world No.2 Vera Zvonareva heads the women’s qualifying draw at Australian Open 2019, with her first assignment a match against emerging local player Astra Sharma.
The Russian is the top seed in the newly expanded 128-player women’s draw, which is peppered with bright talents and players who have previously made waves at Melbourne Park.
The men’s draw is led by top two seeds Lorenzo Sonego of Italy (No.1) and Canadian young gun Felix Auger-Aliassime (No.2).
As well as 10 Australian men, the field also contains a stacked section of former top-40 talent, who must go through one another for a projected shot at Australian Open 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis in the final round.
Zvonareva was a Wimbledon and US Open finalist in 2010 as well as an Australian Open semifinalist the following year. After giving birth to daughter Evelyn in 2016, she returned to tennis on the ITF circuit in 2017 after a two-year break.
She has since worked her way back into the top 100 after advancing to the semifinals of the WTA event in Shenzhen last week in a solid showing ahead of the Australian Open. She will be hoping to recover from the left hip injury that forced her to retire during that semifinal.
Sharma, Zvonareva’s first-round opponent, won three ITF titles and slashed her ranking from No.434 to No.231 in 2018 after graduating from Vanderbilt University.
Sharma is one of 12 Australian women in the draw, the highest ranked being Arina Rodionova at No.172. Several other seeds catch the eye when scanning through the women’s field.
There is No.4 seed Bianca Andreescu, who opens against Brit Katie Swan after her incredible performance in Auckland, where she qualified for the main draw and then stunned Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams en route to her first WTA final. There is sixth seed Olga Danilovic, the Serb who broke through for her first career WTA title at just 17 years of age at the Moscow River Cup last year. And then there’s No.9 seed Marta Kostyuk, the compelling Ukrainian talent who advanced to the third round at Melbourne Park last year at just 15 years of age.
Kostyuk is one of several players in the draw who made headlines at Australian Open 2018. Another is Jana Fett, who held match points against eventual champion Wozniacki in the second round before going down 7-5 in the third at Rod Laver Arena, while Lauren Davis is also in the draw, 12 months on from that epic third-round encounter during which she pushed world No.1 Simona Halep to 15-13 in the third set.
Fett plays 12th seed Sofya Zhuk in round one while Davis takes on Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Also in the draw is 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, Canadian comeback kid Rebecca Marino and former world No.12 Yanina Wickmayer.
In the men’s draw, Auger-Aliassime – who first faces Arthur De Greef of Belgium – won two ATP Challenger titles in 2018 and reached the final of a third, is one of several rising stars in the qualifying draw.
Fifth seed Casper Ruud of Norway is another, as is last year’s Australian Open junior champion Sebastian Korda. Ruud takes on Swiss Henri Laaksonen while Korda, a wildcard into the draw, faces Japan’s Go Soeda.
The Australian men’s contingent is headed by 32nd seed Thanasi Kokkinakis, who plays Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat for the chance to meet either Sebastian Ofner or Yasutaka Uchiyama.
As for that section with all the top-40 players? Former No.26 Lukas Rosol has drawn former No.21 Thomaz Bellucci, with the winner to player either Viktor Troicki (former No.12) or Nicolas Mahut (former No.37). Whoever emerges from that cluster will reach the final round, where a projected meeting with former world No.8 Marcos Baghdatis awaits.
Former top-five star Tommy Robredo is also in the field; the 36-year-old takes on No.9 seed Juan Ignacio Londero.
Australian Open 2019 qualifying begins on Tuesday 8 January at Melbourne Park.