Week in Preview: WTA kicks off 2020 campaign with three tournaments

Are you ready for a good old-fashioned tennis tournament? The WTA returns with three this week. Between them, most of the tour’s big stars, including Serena Williams and Coco Gauff, will be back in action.

With Davis Cup and Fed Cup closing out the 2019 season, and the new ATP Cup opening up 2020, tennis is up to its eyeballs in team play these days. Those events have their advantages, but I’ve started to miss the do-or-die tension, and the methodical march forward from one round to the next, that only single-elimination can give us.

For those of you who agree, and who are looking for a good, old-fashioned tennis tournament, relief is on the way this week, when the WTA kicks off its 2020 campaign with three tournaments, and the ATP returns to Doha. Here’s a look at who’s starting where, and how those draws might play out.

Brisbane, Australia

$1,500,000; Premier

Hard court

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The ATP Cup brought several of the top men’s stars to Brisbane last week. Now an all-star lineup of WTA luminaries will join them for this 30-player Premier event. The draw reads like a who’s who of the tour’s Top 20: Ash Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Petra Kvitova, Kiki Bertens, Jo Konta, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Angie Kerber, and more will be there.

With the Australian Open starting in two weeks, everyone will want to get their matches in. Pliskova has won this tournament two of the last three years; in 2019, she followed her title up with a run to the semifinals in Melbourne.

First-round matches to watch:

Kvitova vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Svitolina vs. Danielle Collins

Bertens vs. Dayana Yastremska

Osaka vs. Maria Sakkari

Alison Riske vs. Karolina Muchova

Auckland, New Zealand

$275,000

Hard court; International

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Auckland doesn’t offer the most prize money or ranking points this week, but it makes up for it in star power. Two Americans, one 38 and the other 15, headline this 32-player draw. Serena Williams is the top seed, and will face Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. Near them at the top of the bracket is Coco Gauff, who will begin against Viktoria Kuzmova. If Williams and Gauff each win two rounds, they’ll face each other for the first time.

Also here: Amanda Anisimova, Petra Martic, Caroline Wozniacki, and two-time defending champion Julia Goerges

Returning: CiCi Bellis

Shenzhen, China

$775,000; International

Hard court

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There’s more money in the Shenzhen purse than there is in Auckland—$500,000 more, to be exact—but there’s no Serena. Instead, Belinda Bencic and Aryna Sabalenka are the top 2 seeds. The Swiss will try to pick up where she left off in 2019, while the Belorussian will try to forget 2019 and pick up where she left off the year before.

Doha, Qatar

$1,465,260; 250 ranking points

Hard court

There aren’t many big, or even medium-sized, names missing from the ATP Cup, but most of them can be found in Doha. Stan Wawrinka, Andrey Rublev,  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Milos Raonic are the Top 4 seeds.