Guadalajara (Mexico) – The start of the contests in the WTA 1000 of Guadalajara defined the first opponents of the two main seeds of the tournament. While Paula Badosa will face former leader Victoria Azarenka, second seed Aryna Sabalenka will also have a tough start, facing Liudmila Samsonova.

Azarenka only needed 1h26 to beat the lucky loser Elina Avanesyan by 6/4 and 6/2. At 33, the Belarusian is currently ranked 37th. She has one win and one loss to Badosa, currently ranked No. 8, on the pro circuit.

Off the mark in Guadalajara 💃@vika7 sets up a Round 2 clash with top seed Badosa!#GDLOPENAKRON pic.twitter.com/MxmvQZjCkZ

– wta (@WTA) October 17, 2022

Also on Monday, Russian Liudmila Samsonova overtook Estonian Kaia Kanepi, with splits of 6/1 and 7/5. The 23-year-old player, currently 22nd in the rankings, will have an unprecedented confrontation against Sabalenka, fourth in the WTA rankings.

Former top 5 Bianca Andreescu, currently ranked 59th, also made her debut with a win. She beat Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 6/2 and 6/4 and awaits the winner between Czech Petra Kvitova and American Bernarda Pera. Another Canadian victory in the round came with Rebecca Marino, who went 6/2 and 7/6 (7-2) against American Ann Li. Her next rival is France’s Caroline Garcia, the tournament’s 6th seed. .

The opponents of Maria Sakkari and Daria Kasatkina in Guadalajara are also defined. The Greek takes on Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6/1 and 6/3. The Russian, on the other hand, faces the Chinese Lin Zhu, who rocked the match against the French Alizé Cornet by 3/6, 6/3 and 6/4.