Abu Dhabi 2021: Thursday's Order of Play and Match Points

ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE COURT -- 10:00 a.m. start
[Q] Lucrezia STEFANINI (ITA) vs. [6] Elena RYBAKINA (KAZ)
[4] Aryna SABALENKA (BLR) vs. Polona HERCOG (SLO)
[1] Sofia KENIN (USA) vs. [Q] YANG Zhaoxuan (CHN)
Kristina MLADENOVIC (FRA) vs. [5] Garbiñe MUGURUZA (ESP)
[LL] Despina PAPAMICHAIL (GRE) vs. [3] Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE)
Jessica PEGULA (USA) vs. [2] Elina SVITOLINA (UKR)

COURT 1 -- 10:00 a.m. start
Sara SORRIBES TORMO (ESP) vs. Nadia PODOROSKA (ARG)
[8] Marketa VONDROUSOVA (CZE) vs. HSIEH Su-Wei (TPE)
[LL] Valentini GRAMMATIKOPOULOU (GRE) vs. Alizé CORNET (FRA)
Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO) vs. [11] Jennifer BRADY (USA)
Heather WATSON (GBR) vs. [LL] Jodie BURRAGE (GBR)
Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) vs. [Q] Amandine HESSE (FRA)

COURT 2 -- 10:00 a.m. start
Arantxa RUS (NED) vs. WANG Xiyu (CHN)
Marta KOSTYUK (UKR) vs. [Q] Lucie HRADECKA (CZE)
[12] Karolina MUCHOVA (CZE) vs. Danka KOVINIC (MNE)
Coco GAUFF (USA) vs. Ulrikke EIKERI (NOR)
After suitable rest
Anett KONTAVEIT (EST) / Daria KASATKINA (RUS) vs. Aliaksandra SASNOVICH (BLR) / Lidziya MAROZAVA (BLR)
Mona BARTHEL (GER) vs. [Q] Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS)

COURT 3 -- 10:00 a.m. start
[Q] Kateryna BONDARENKO (UKR) vs. WANG Yafan (CHN)
Aliaksandra SASNOVICH (BLR) vs. [Q] Anna BONDAR (HUN)
 [Q] Bianca TURATI (ITA) vs. Yaroslava SHVEDOVA (KAZ)

COURT 4 -- 12:00 p.m. start
[6] Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA) / Alexa GUARACHI (CHI) vs. Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS) / Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS)
After suitable rest
ZHU Lin (CHN) / WANG Yafan (CHN) vs. [7] YANG Zhaoxuan (CHN) / XU Yifan (CHN)
After suitable rest
Marta KOSTYUK (UKR) / Andreja KLEPAC (SLO) vs. [5] Ena SHIBAHARA (JPN) / Shuko AOYAMA (JPN) 

MATCH POINTS

No.1 seed Sofia Kenin will kick off her 2021 season on Thursday at the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open, when she takes on qualifier Yang Zhaoxuan of China. 2020 WTA Player of the Year Kenin picked up two WTA singles titles last season, including her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, and currently sits at her career-high ranking of World No.4.

Read more: 'It feels like it was just yesterday': Kenin reflects and restarts

Yang, a former Top 20 doubles player currently ranked World No.55 in the WTA Doubles Rankings, is contesting her first singles event since an opening-round loss to Samantha Stosur at 2019 Tianjin, 15 months ago. Kenin and Yang have met once before in singles, where Kenin claimed a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the first round of the 2018 Wuhan Open qualifying.

No.2 seed Elina Svitolina will face Jessica Pegula in their opening singles match of the season on Thursday, which will be their first meeting. World No.5 Svitolina notched her 15th career WTA singles title last year, when she captured the Internationaux de Strasbourg crown in September. Pegula has one career singles title to her credit, at the 2019 Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

Read more: 'It takes lots of courage' - Svitolina on the importance of mental health

No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova also hits the Centre Court on Thursday when she takes on lucky loser Despina Papamichail. Currently ranked World No.6, Pliskova is seeking to win a WTA singles title in the opening week of the season for the fourth time in five years. Pliskova took home the Brisbane title in the first week of each of the 2017, 2019, and 2020 seasons.

No.4 seed Aryna Sabalenka will meet Polona Hercog with the duo having split their previous clashes. Both came on clay during April of 2018: Sabalenka beat Hercog in straight sets in Lugano, but Hercog got her revenge with a straight-set victory of her own just two weeks later in Istanbul.

World No.10 Sabalenka ended 2020 in a rich vein of form, winning her final nine matches of the year to capture back-to-back titles in Ostrava and Linz. Sabalenka's end-of-season run clinched her a spot in the year-end Top 10 of the WTA Singles Rankings for the first time in her career.

Former World No.1 Garbiñe Muguruza faces an intriguing opening test when she takes on former Top 10 singles player Kristina Mladenovic on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. Mladenovic has defeated Muguruza in two of their three meetings, although both of Mladenovic's wins have come on clay, and Muguruza has won their most recent encounter, on the hardcourts of Monterrey in 2019.

Also kicking off her season on Thursday is 16-year-old American Coco Gauff, who will face Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri in their first meeting. Gauff, the youngest player in the draw, is one of five teenagers who made their ways into the singles field this week.