Wimbledon draw: Rybakina opens title defense vs. Rogers; Venus Williams to play Svitolina

6m read 30 Jun 2023 2y ago
Elena Rybakina, Wimbledon 2023
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Elena Rybakina

View Profile will have to navigate a draw filled with upset artists and in-form grass-courters as she embarks on her Wimbledon title defense next week.

The No.3 seed will open against Shelby Rogers, who has notched seven Top 10 wins in her career and who has defeated Rybakina twice in five previous meetings. In the second round, she could face Alizé Cornet, whose 25 wins against Top 10 opponents include an upset of Iga Swiatek

View Profile at Wimbledon 2022 that snapped the World No.1's 37-match winning streak.

Wimbledon 2023: Draw | Seed analysis | 411 | The challenges of transitioning to grass

Three of this year's grass-court tournament winners have also landed in Rybakina's quarter: Nottingham champion Katie Boulter

View Profile , Birmingham champion Jelena Ostapenko
View Profile
and Berlin champion Petra Kvitova. There could also be a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final in the quarterfinals, where Rybakina is projected to face No.6 seed Ons Jabeur
View Profile
.

Swiatek, fresh off a successful Roland Garros title defense, will open against Zhu Lin, while No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile starts against Panna Udvardy
View Profile
. Sabalenka could face a rematch of the Roland Garros semifinals, where she lost from match point up to
Karolina Muchova
View Profile
, in the last 16.

The intriguing opening-round matchups include wild cards between seven-time major champion Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina

View Profile , who returned from maternity leave in April, and No.7 seed Coco Gauff
View Profile
against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin
View Profile
, who successfully came through qualifying this week.

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected

      Birmingham: Venus Williams triumphs over Giorgi in three-hour opener

      First quarter

      Despite being a former Wimbledon junior champion, it's no secret Swiatek feels she has yet to fully work out grass courts. She made her first grass-court semifinal in Bad Homburg this week before pulling out with an illness. The highest-ranked player standing between Swiatek and a first Wimbledon quarterfinal is No.14 seed Belinda Bencic

      View Profile , who withdrew from all her pre-Wimbledon grass warm-ups with an injury.

      Swiatek is projected to face No.7 seed Gauff, against whom she has yet to lose a set in seven meetings, in the quarterfinals. Gauff, currently in the Eastbourne semifinals this week, has some intriguing obstacles in her way. Her head-to-head against first-round opponent Kenin is all square at one win apiece, and the 2020 Australian Open champion is in strong form, dropping just 14 games in three qualifying matches.

      Gauff could also meet the winner of the Williams-Svitolina matchup in the third round, followed by either No.11 seed Daria Kasatkina

      View Profile or No.19 seed Victoria Azarenka
      View Profile
      in the fourth round.

      First rounds to watch: Martina Trevisan

      View Profile vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo
      View Profile
      ; Linda Fruhvirtova
      View Profile
      vs. [30]
      Petra Martic
      View Profile
      ; [28]
      Elise Mertens
      View Profile
      vs. [Q] Viktoria Hruncakova
      View Profile
      ; [WC] Venus Williams vs. [WC]
      Elina Svitolina
      View Profile
      ; [Q] Sofia Kenin
      View Profile
      vs. [7]
      Coco Gauff
      View Profile

      Second quarter

      No.4 seed Jessica Pegula

      View Profile heads the second quarter, and starts with a familiar opponent in fellow American Lauren Davis
      View Profile
      , whom she first played in 2012 and has met five times in total, winning the past three.

      Pegula is projected to face No.5 seed Caroline Garcia

      View Profile , who was forced to retire because of a shoulder injury in Eastbourne this week, in the quarterfinals. Garcia is one of several big hitters who lurk in this section. Potential fourth-round opponents for Pegula include 2021 Berlin champion Liudmila Samsonova
      View Profile
      , the No.15 seed, No.24 seed Zheng Qinwen or Alycia Parks
      View Profile
      , who captured a first WTA title in Lyon this February.

      Meanwhile, Garcia could face either 's-Hertogenbosch finalist Veronika Kudermetova

      View Profile , the No.12 seed, or No.20 seed Donna Vekic
      View Profile
      in the last 16. Before that, the Frenchwoman could face a rematch of her top-quality Australian Open second-round tilt with Leylah Fernandez
      View Profile
      at the same stage.

      Former World No.2 Anett Kontaveit, who is playing the final event of her career, has also been drawn in this quarter. The Estonian will play qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini

      View Profile in the first round.

      First rounds to watch: Camila Osorio

      View Profile vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
      View Profile
      ; [24] Zheng Qinwen vs.
      Katerina Siniakova
      View Profile
      ;
      Alycia Parks
      View Profile
      vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam
      View Profile
      ; [12]
      Veronika Kudermetova
      View Profile
      vs. Kaia Kanepi; Anett Kontaveit vs. [Q] Lucrezia Stefanini
      View Profile

      Third quarter

      Arguably the most stacked section of the draw, the third quarter sets last year's finalists, No.3 Rybakina and No.6 Jabeur, on course for a rematch as early as the quarterfinals. Not that either have smooth routes to even get there.

      If Rybakina, who was forced to withdraw from Eastbourne this week, survives Rogers and Cornet in the first two rounds, home hope and recent first-time titlist Boulter could await in the third round.

      Potential fourth-round opponents include No.13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia

      View Profile , who won the first two titles of her career on grass last year and who is fresh off her first major semifinal at Roland Garros, No.17 seed Jelena Ostapenko
      View Profile
      , a perennial threat on grass who captured her sixth career title in Birmingham last week or the tricky slice-and-dice test of last year's semifinalist Tatjana Maria
      View Profile
      . Ostapenko, who lost to Maria in the fourth round last year, could face the German mother of two in the second round this year.

      Jabeur opens against Magdalena Frech

      View Profile , fresh off back-to-back quarterfinals in Nottingham and Birmingham, and could face either No.26 seed Anhelina Kalinina
      View Profile
      or former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu
      View Profile
      in the third round. The Tunisian's projected fourth-round opponent is No.9 seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who comes into this year's tournament on a five-match winning streak after winning her second title of 2023 in Berlin last week.

      First rounds to watch: [6] Ons Jabeur

      View Profile vs. Magdalena Frech
      View Profile
      ; [18] Karolina Pliskova
      View Profile
      vs. [Q] Natalija Stevanovic; [13]
      Beatriz Haddad Maia
      View Profile
      vs. Yulia Putintseva
      View Profile
      ; Sorana Cirstea
      View Profile
      vs.
      Tatjana Maria
      View Profile
      ; Shelby Rogers vs. [3]
      Elena Rybakina
      View Profile

      Fourth quarter

      This year, Australian Open champion Sabalenka has paired her formidable power with week-in, week-out consistency. She has reached at least the quarterfinals of eight of her 10 tournaments so far in 2023 -- although she did suffer a second-round exit in Berlin to Kudermetova last week.

      Sabalenka, whose best Wimbledon performance to date was her 2021 semifinal run, could have a chance for revenge in the fourth round. No.16 seed Muchova, who denied her from match point down in the Roland Garros semifinals, is her projected opponent. The Czech is a two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist but has not played since the Roland Garros final.

      Before that, the big-hitting Camila Giorgi lurks for Sabalenka in the second round. Muchova will have to navigate past last year's quarterfinalist Jule Niemeier

      View Profile in the first round and potentially two-time 's-Hertogenbosch champion Ekaterina Alexandrova
      View Profile
      , the No.21 seed, in the third round. Rising 18-year-old Linda Noskova
      View Profile
      is also one to watch. The Czech, who could face compatriot Muchova in the second round, only played her first grass-court tournament last week in Birmingham but has all the tools to excel on the surface with more experience.

      With Netflix cameras in tow, Mirra Andreeva

      View Profile preparing for first season on grass | With advice from Martina Hingis, Celine Naef
      View Profile
      is carving her own path

      No.8 seed Maria Sakkari

      View Profile is Sabalenka's projected quarterfinal opponent. The Greek player is bidding to reach the quarterfinals of a Slam for the first time since the 2021 US Open and will open against talented Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk
      View Profile
      . No.10 seed Barbora Krejcikova
      View Profile
      , fresh off the Birmingham final last week, is a potential fourth-round opponent for Sakkari. However, the 2021 Roland Garros champion has a tough test of her own to get through. Krejcikova could face 16-year-old sensation Mirra Andreeva
      View Profile
      , who successfully passed through qualifying at the first attempt, in the second round.

      First rounds to watch: [8] Maria Sakkari

      View Profile vs. Marta Kostyuk
      View Profile
      ; [Q] Viktorija Golubic
      View Profile
      vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
      View Profile
      ; [22]
      Anastasia Potapova
      View Profile
      vs. [Q] Celine Naef
      View Profile
      ; [Q]
      Mirra Andreeva
      View Profile
      vs. Wang Xiyu; [WC] Heather Watson
      View Profile
      vs. [10]
      Barbora Krejcikova
      View Profile
      ; [16]
      Karolina Muchova
      View Profile
      vs. Jule Niemeier
      View Profile
      ; Madison Brengle vs. Sara Errani
      View Profile
      ; [Q] Yanina Wickmayer vs.
      Anna Blinkova
      View Profile