Middle East Swing: Who's playing where?

The WTA Tour's elite have dominated the big events so far in 2019, with the four biggest tournaments of the season so far being won by a member of the Top 10.

Australian Open: No.1 Naomi Osaka
Sydney International (Premier): No.2 Petra Kvitova
Brisbane International (Premier): No.5 Karolina Pliskova
St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy (Premier): No.8 Kiki Bertens

Meanwhile, on the International level, youth has been the overarching story. Aside from Julia Goerges, who defended her title at the ASB Classic in Auckland by defeating 18-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the final, all the remaining International events have been won by a player aged 20 or younger.

ASB Classic: No.16 Julia Goerges
Shenzhen Open: No.9 Aryna Sabalenka (20)
Hobart International: No.37 Sofia Kenin (20)
Toyota Thailand Open: No.34 Dayana Yastremska (18) 

Will the trends continue to hold as the tour turns to the Middle East? After a pause in the action for this weekend's Fed Cup ties, the tour resumes at the Qatar Total Open in Doha (Premier), followed by the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (Premier 5). The tour then returns to North America with the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco to round out the month, before the first two Premier Mandatory events of the season at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open in March. 

A refresher on what happened in Doha and Dubai last season:

Doha: Petra Kvitova d. Garbiñe Muguruza, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Dubai: Elina Svitolian d. Daria Kasatkina, 6-4, 6-0.

Here's where the Top 20 are currently scheduled to play in February.

This post was updated on February 7th to reflect (1) Svitolina accepting a wildcard into Doha and (2) Keys entered in Dubai. 

This post was updated on February 11th to reflect (1) Wozniacki accepting a wildcard into Doha and (2) Barty's withdrawal from Doha.