MATCH POINTS
Seoul was a site of milestones for Ekaterina Alexandrova in 2018: the Russian picked up her first Top 10 win over No.1 seed Jelena Ostapenko en route to her maiden WTA quarterfinal. One year on, Alexandrova is the No.2 seed here and will bid for her fifth quarterfinal of the season against Kristyna Pliskova.
18-year-old Anastasia Potapova, the youngest player to have reached the second round of Seoul this year, won her only previous meeting with No.4 seed Magda Linette 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Madrid qualifying this May.
Wildcard Kristie Ahn's 6-0, 6-0 defeat of Timea Bacsinszky in the first round was the American's first double bagel win on the WTA Tour, and just her third at any level in her career. The first two came in two of her first three pro tournaments in 2008 - over Maria Fernanda Alvarez Teran and Manuela Leme in ITF 10K events in Landisville and Houston. Ahn won her only prior encounter with qualifier Ana Bogdan in a 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-6(4) epic in the second round of the Saint-Gaudens ITF 60K event in 2017 en route to reaching the final, where she fell to Richel Hogenkamp.
Having made a stunning comeback from three knee surgeries to return to the Top 100 in 2018, No.7 seed Margarita Gasparyan has continued to be beset by injuries this season, having been forced to retire five times in 2019. The Russian is bidding to win consecutive main draw matches - and to stay healthy - for just the second time this year following her semifinal run in Istanbul.
No.8 seed Wang Yafan enjoyed a breakthrough spring hardcourt swing, winning her maiden title in Acapulco and reaching the fourth round of Miami. Since then, however, the Chinese No.4 has compiled just a 5-14 win-loss record with just one further quarterfinal showing, in Mallorca in June.
ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 12 noon)
CENTER
Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS) vs [4] Magda LINETTE (POL)
[Q] Ana BOGDAN (ROU) vs [WC] Kristie AHN (USA)
Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE) vs [2] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS)
CHOI Ji-Hee (KOR) / HAN Na-Lae (KOR) vs Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS) / Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS)
COURT 2
Ysaline BONAVENTURE (BEL) vs [8] WANG Yafan (CHN)
[7] Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS) vs Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL)
Not before 2pm
Hayley CARTER (USA) / Luisa STEFANI (BRA) vs Greet MINNEN (BEL) / Alison VAN UYTVANCK (BEL)
[4] Oksana KALASHNIKOVA (GEO) / Danka KOVINIC (MNE) vs Laura PIGOSSI (BRA) / WANG Yafan (CHN)
