San Diego (United States) – Eliminated in the second round in singles and in the quarterfinals in doubles at the US Open, Beatriz Haddad Maia from São Paulo continues in the United States to compete next week at the WTA 500 in San Diego, with a good draw and debut difficult. for the Brazilian, who will face the Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the first round.

Runner-up at the US Open in 2021, Fernandez currently occupies 67th place in the rankings, but was already world number 13 last season. This will be the fourth time that she crosses paths with Bia, in a left-handed duel, with two victories for the Canadian (Monterrey 2022 and Montreal 2023) and one for the native of São Paulo (Toronto 2022).

Seeded 7th in the tournament, Bia will not have an easy match. If she goes beyond her debut, she will face the Polish Magda Linette or the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, and could cross in the quarter-finals with the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, fourth favorite, and in the possible semi-final with the French Caroline Garcia, second highest rated for the title. .

In addition, dangerous names such as local tennis players Danielle Collins and Sloane Stephens, Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko are also part of the Brazilian group. However, they are all in Garcia’s quadrant and can only meet Bia in a possible semi-final.

On the other side, Tunisian Ons Jabeur tops the group as the big favorite, advancing directly to the second round against the winner of the duel between local Alycia Parks and Russian Anastasia Potapova. She could meet the Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the quarter-finals and the Greek Maria Sakkari or the Swiss Belinda Bencic in the semi-final. It might also surprise local tennis player Sofia Kenin.