Brisbane draw preview: Sabalenka, Keys could meet in quarters
The Brisbane International is loaded.
Seven of the top 10 players in the world headline the 48-player field, including last year's US Open finalists, the reigning WTA Finals champion and last year's Australian Open champion.
The lead-up to the Australian Open will provide a strong indication of who's in form early in the season, and the depth of the field guarantees that there will be more than a few classic matches between some of the world's best.
Here's a breakdown of each quarter, first-round matches to keep an eye on and potential quarterfinal meetings.
2026 Brisbane International: See the full draw
First quarter
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the defending champion, is the obvious frontrunner in this section. She dropped just one set in Brisbane last year (in the final), and she'll be the favorite to win it all again in 2026. The other Top 10 player in this section is Madison Keys. All she did in Australia last year was go 12-0 en route to her first career major title. (She opted to play Auckland instead of Brisbane, winning the title there.) Will she find another spark in Australia this year?
First-round match to keep an eye on
Sorana Cirstea vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: This is a fun one between veterans, one of whom -- the 35-year-old Cirstea -- is set to retire from the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz at the end of the year. Here's a stat: Their first career match was in 2008. Cirstea won that one, on clay in Morocco, and they've split six matches in the 18 (!) years since.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs. Madison Keys [5]: Can't get much better than this in one of the first tournaments of the year. You might recall that they played in last year's Australian Open final, a Keys victory that was one of the best matches of 2025 (and without question the biggest win of the American's career).
Second quarter
No one ended 2025 hotter than Elena Rybakina, and it wasn't close. The World No. 5 won six consecutive matches to stunningly qualify for the WTA Finals, and then won five straight in Riyadh to claim the biggest prize in the history of women's sports. She'll look to keep the momentum going in a section that includes Karolina Muchova, Paula Badosa -- starting fresh after an injury-plagued season -- and newly-minted Top 10 player Ekaterina Alexandrova.
First-round match to keep an eye on
Jaqueline Cristian vs. Marie Bouzkova: Of the four matches they've played, three have gone to deciders. And four of the 11 sets have gone to tiebreakers. Expect another close one this time around.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
Elena Rybakina [3] vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova [7]: Will Rybakina look as unstoppable as she did at the end of the season? How will Alexandrova come out of the gate as a first-time Top 10 player? Adding to the intrigue is the fact that they've split their six career meetings. Rybakina won their two matches in 2025, in Ningbo and Riyadh.
Third quarter
Jessica Pegula, playing Brisbane for the first time, headlines the third quarter, and she could play former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the third round. Also in this section are Top 10 players Clara Tauson and Liudmila Samsonova.
First-round match to keep an eye on
Tatjana Maria vs. Emerson Jones (WC): Oh, what a treat. The 38-year-old, half a year removed from winning her first career WTA 500 title, against the 17-year-old Australian hopeful who many are predicting will be the country's next breakout star. We know who the fans will be behind in this one.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
Clara Tauson [8] vs. Jessica Pegula [4]: This would be the first career meeting between Pegula and Tauson.
Fourth quarter
Amanda Anisimova, coming off the season of her career, is the top seed in what might be the most competitive and daunting -- and perhaps most interesting -- section of the draw. Fellow Top 10 player Mirra Andreeva is also in this quarter, as is World No. 13 Linda Noskova and the always dangerous Marta Kostyuk. (And Marketa Vondrousova, former Wimbledon champion, is no slouch.) In a year where Anisimova has been predicted by many (myself included) to win a major, she'll be tested right out of the gate.
First-round match to keep an eye on
Marketa Vondrousova vs. Magdalena Frech: Vondrousova rolled to the US Open quarterfinals last year, but was forced to retire from her match against Sabalenka with a knee injury. She returned to play two more matches in 2025, both losses. (The second one was a second-set retirement.) We'll find out soon enough if she's fully recovered for 2026. Vondrousova has won all four of her matches against Frech, though three of them were on clay.
Potential quarterfinal showdown
Mirra Andreeva [6] vs. Amanda Anisimova [2]: Which Andreeva will we see in Brisbane? The one who won back-to-back WTA 1000 titles as a 17-year-old, or the one who fell back down to Earth in the second half of the year? And how will Anisimova fare in a season that arrives with heightened expectations and pressure? They've only played once, a three-set win for Anisimova in Miami last year that snapped Andreeva's 13-match winning streak.