The women's grass court season gets underway this week in Berlin, with eight of the WTA's top 10 stars lacing up their grass shoes for the ecotrans Ladies Open. Competition will be fierce from the very first ball struck as the game's biggest names look to hit the ground running in their quest for grass court glory.
Opening proceedings on Monday will be Russia's Arantxa Rus tackling Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez, with the latter entering as a lucky loser after progressing through qualifying. Sonmez will be eager to make the most of her main draw opportunity against a Rus who has seen more success on clay courts.
Also first up is a meeting between former top 30 player Anna Kalinskaya and Japan's Nao Hibino, with the former holding a perfect 2-0 record in their head-to-head. Kalinskaya will look to carry momentum from solid efforts earlier this year into her grass court debut.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Marketa Vondrousova then takes on Latvia's Rebeka Masarova, with the Czech dominating their prior meetings. Vondrousova showed glimpses of her Wimbledon winning form last year and will aim to continue fine tuning her grass game.
American hopeful Emma Navarro clashes with Katerina Siniakova in a closely contested matchup between players separated by just a single rankings place. Their rivalry is locked at 2-2 and this latest chapter is sure to be fiercely competitive.
Top seed Daria Kasatkina rounds out the day's action when facing off against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. Kasatkina has triumphed in three of their five previous battles and will look to assert her status as the player to beat in Berlin.
With many more entertainers scheduled across the week ahead, Berlin is primed to be a showcase of women's tennis at its finest on grass as the road to Wimbledon heats up.
