Alexandrova, Jovic, Keys, Samsonova headline Strasbourg field

Top 20 players Ekaterina Alexandrova, Iva Jovic, Madison Keys, Clara Tauson and Liudmila Samsonova will headline next month's Internationaux de Strasbourg presented by Mammotion.

They'll be joined by Marta Kostyuk, Marie Bouzkova, Leylah Fernandez, Emma Navarro, Maya Joint and Cristina Bucsa.

This will be the 40th edition of the Internationaux de Strasbourg, which was elevated to a WTA 500 tournament in 2024. Along with the WTA 250 Grand Prix Sar La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Morocco, it's the final WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz tournament before the French Open.

Played outdoors on clay, it features a 28-player singles draw. That includes 19 direct entries, four qualifiers, four wild cards -- still to be announced -- and one special exemption. The top four seeds will receive byes into the second round.

The final eight direct entrants in the field are Xinyu Wang, Hailey Baptiste, Jaqueline Cristian, Ann Li, Sara Bejlek, Maria Sakkari, Magdalena Frech and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

The first five main-draw alternates are Katerina Siniakova, Peyton Stearns, Alexandra Eala, Lois Boisson and McCartney Kessler.

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina is the defending champion in Strasbourg, but she will not return to defend her title. But one defending champion who will be back is Keys, who beat Danielle Collins for the title in 2024. That win was notable because coming into that final, Collins had won 22 of 24 matches, her lone two losses coming to Aryna Sabalenka.

But Keys won handily, 6-1, 6-2, in just 72 minutes for her eighth career singles title (to that point).

Samsonova is also a former finalist in Strasbourg, losing last year's final to Rybakina 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-1.

The draw will be revealed on Saturday, May 16, and first-round play will start the following day. The tournament will run through Saturday, May 23. Roland Garros will begin the next day.