Berlin draw: Nine of Top 10 in field; Zheng faces Rybakina in first round

Nine of the Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Singles Rankings will compete at the year's second WTA 500 grass-court event, the Berlin Tennis Open by Hylo.

The stage is set for a scintillating week at the Berlin Tennis Open by Hylo, after the main draw was pulled on Saturday.

Berlin: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Nine of the Top 10 players in the PIF WTA Singles Rankings will compete at the year's second WTA 500 grass-court event -- meaning there is an unseeded Top 10 player in the draw.

The top four seeds will receive first-round byes in the 28-player main draw. The singles champion will reap the following rewards: 500 ranking points and €142,610 in prize money.

Watch: Pegula saves five championship points to win Berlin

Here are some highlights from the main draw:

First quarter

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka tops the table -- and it's yet to be determined who she will face if she wants to make her second straight Berlin quarterfinal. After her first-round bye, she is guaranteed to meet a qualifier in the second round.

A blockbuster first-round match is at the other end of this quarter, with No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen taking on former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who is unseeded at World No. 11. Rybakina leads their head-to-head 2-1, but Zheng won their most recent meeting at the 2024 WTA Finals.

Second quarter

Last year's Wimbledon runner-up, No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini gets the bye in this quarter. She is also guaranteed to take on a qualifier in the second round.

On the other side of this quarter, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova, will oppose No. 7 seed and reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the first round. Keys won their only previous meeting in the 2023 US Open quarterfinals.

Third quarter

Defending champion Jessica Pegula gets the bye here, as the No. 3 seed. She saved five championship points to outlast Anna Kalinskaya in last year's final (Kalinskaya has already lost in qualifying this year).

Pegula's second-round opponent will be either 2021 Berlin champion Liudmila Samsonova or four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka. Osaka has a 2-1 head-to-head lead over Samsonova.

Also in this quarter, No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva will meet Magdalena Frech in the first round. The winner of that match will face the winner of the match between Amanda Anisimova and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.

Fourth quarter

Reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff anchors the draw as the No. 2 seed. After her first-round bye, Gauff will put her seven-match winning streak on the line when she takes on either Daria Kasatkina or a qualifier in the second round.

And it is in this quarter where an unseeded Top 10 player was drawn -- World No. 10 Emma Navarro, who could face No. 8 seed Paula Badosa in the second round. At World No. 9, Badosa is ranked just one spot higher than Navarro, meaning the Spaniard got the last seed over the American.

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