Queen's Club draw: Zheng, Raducanu, Krejcikova land in top quarter
The grass-court season is about to get started with the year's first WTA 500 event on the surface, the HSBC Championships at the prestigious Queen's Club in London.
Queen's Club: Draws | Scores | Order of play | 411
The main draw was pulled on Saturday on the London Eye, with reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and British wild card Jodie Burrage assisting, as tournament director Laura Robson looked on.
Ten of the Top 20 players in the PIF WTA Rankings will attempt to become the first woman to win the Queen's Club title in over 50 years. This is the first time since 1973 the event will be part of the Hologic WTA Tour calendar.
The full main draw can be found here. Here is a breakdown of the highlights:
First quarter
Zheng Qinwen tops the draw as the No. 1 seed. Like all of the Top 4 seeds, Zheng has a first-round bye and will face either British wild card Francesca Jones or American McCartney Kessler in the second round.
Reigning Olympic gold medalist Zheng needs only one win to make her first-ever WTA grass-court quarterfinal. She is 3-8 lifetime on grass.
This quarter also holds 2021 US Open champion and British No. 2 Emma Raducanu, and reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, the No. 7 seed. They could meet in the second round if they both win their openers.
Second quarter
Emma Navarro has the bye here as the No. 3 seed. On this surface, World No. 9 Navarro has made two Bad Homburg semifinals and reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon last year.
Her second-round opponent will be tricky: either two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won consecutive grass-court titles in the U.K. in 2022.
Kvitova was the one who ended Haddad Maia's 13-match win streak which encompassed those 2022 titles. Haddad Maia had beaten Kvitova en route to one of those titles before Kvitova got her back in the Eastbourne semis.
Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion from 2011 and 2014, is playing her seventh event since returning from maternity leave earlier this year. She has picked up only one win so far in her comeback.
Also in this quarter are two more Top 20 players: No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova and Daria Kasatkina. They each face British wild cards in their first-round matches.
Third quarter
Elena Rybakina is here as the No. 4 seed. Rybakina's Grand Slam title came on grass, when she served her way to the 2022 Wimbledon title. She could face fellow Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the second round.
No. 6 seed Karolina Muchova is the other seed in this quarter. She could meet 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the second round, but they both have to beat qualifiers to set that meeting.
Fourth quarter
Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys anchors the draw as the No. 2 seed. Keys is 3-0 in WTA grass-court finals, all in Great Britain. But her first match could be against a Top 20 player: Donna Vekic, who made the Wimbledon semifinals last year.
No. 5 seed Diana Shnaider is the other seed in this quarter and she will face Top 30 player Magdalena Frech in the first round.
