Shenzhen draw 2019: Sharapova faces Bacsinszky, top seed Sabalenka takes on Maria

1m read 29 Dec 2018 6y ago

Maria Sharapova was defending a 22-0 night record at the US Open against Carla Suárez Navarro. (Getty)

SHENZHEN, China - Maria Sharapova is seeded fifth at the Shenzhen Open as she endeavors to make a winning return from injury - and will face Timea Bacsinszky first up.

The Swiss was the 2015 runner-up in Shenzhen, beaten by Simona Halep 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

She last faced Sharapova on the clay of Madrid four years ago, when the Russian won in straight sets.

However, Bacsinszky's sole win over Sharapova did indeed come in China - in Wuhan, back in 2014, when she triumphed 7-6(3), 7-5.

World No.13 Aryna Sabalenka

is the top seed, and she will face Germany's in the first round. They have played twice before, with the Belarusian winning both times.

France's Caroline Garcia

is seeded third and will play a qualifier, as will fourth seed .

FULL FIRST-ROUND DRAW

Aryna SABALENKA (BLR) [1] v Tatjana MARIA (GER)
Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) v Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO)
[WC] WANG Xinyu (CHN) v Qualifier
Timea BACSINSKY (SUI) v Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) [5]
Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) [4] v Qualifier
[WC] PENG Shuai (CHN) v Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE)
Anna Karolina SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK) v WANG Yafan (CHN)
Ons JABEUR (TUN) v ZHANG Shuai (CHN) [7]
ZHENG Saisai (CHN) [6] v Pauline PARMENTIER (FRA)
Sorana CIRSTEA (ROU) v Magda LINETTE (POL)
Evgeniya RODINA (RUS) v Zarina DIYAS (KAZ)
Alison RISKE (USA) v WANG Qiang (CHN) [3]
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) [8] v Ana BOGDAN (ROU)
Irina-Camelia BEGU (ROU) v Qualifier
Luksika KUMKHUM (THA) v [WC] Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS)
Qualifier v Caroline GARCIA (FRA) [2]