TWO WTA Tour tournaments kick off this week in the wake of the Indian Wells concluding, with world number two Aryna Sabalenka returning following her positive COVID-19 test that forced her to miss the BNP Paribas Open. She will suit up for the WTA 500 event on the hard courts of Moscow, as we preview the Kremlin Cup and Tenerife Ladies Open.

KREMLIN CUP

Sabalenka enters the draw as a top seed, freshly rested off her unfortunate withdrawal from Indian Wells, but will immediately have plenty of tough matches if she is to claim her third title of 2021. A bye in the first round will see her take on either Ajla Tomljanovic – who recently upset.Garbine Muguruza – or Liudmila Samsonova in the Round of 16. A quarter finals clash with Ons Jabeur is as tough as it gets for a top seed, with the Tunisian into the Top 10 for the first time in her career. From there, either Maria Sakkari or Simona Halep will be waiting for her in the semi-finals.

Muguruza is up the opposite end of the draw as second seed, and seems to have lucked out in terms of the draw. Whilst stumbling at Indian Wells after winning a title in Chicago – over Jabeur – Muguruza will have the lower seeds on offer. She takes on Tereza Martincova in the second round, with a likely clash with either Angelique Kerber or Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter finals. The semi-finals will be tough to predict, with an even draw in the third section of the tournament. Among those in there are Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – who will reach a quarter final without playing an automatic entrant – as well as Anett Kontaveit, who will face the winner of Elena Rybakina or Marketa Vondrousova in the second round.

If Sabalenka can quickly find her form at the tournament she will be favourite, but she has a tough draw from start to finish, and the likes of Jabeur, Ostapenko and Kontaveit are all in form, as is Muguruza if you discount her last loss.

TENERIFE LADIES OPEN

Despite being a lower categorised 250 event, the Tenerife Ladies Open still has plenty of eye-catching players heading down to Spain. Top seed Elina Svitolina is the raging favourite at the event, ranked seventh in the world, a full 26 spots ahead of second seed, and world number 33, Tamara Zidansek. Svitolina will take on Colombian young gun Maria Camila Osorio Serrano in the first round, with Zidansek facing Rebecca Peterson. The other two top seeds are Sara Sorribes Tormo and Camila Giorgi who are both inside the Top 40 and lock horns with Varvara Gracheva and a qualifier respectively.

Clara Tauson is seeded at the event, with the teenage Dane taking on Brit, Heather Watson in a tough first round encounter. Alison Riske is out of form this year, way down in 51st, but the former Top 20 player is always a threat at the lower events, seeded eighth. Others who might be ones to watch include sixth seed Chinese talent Shuai Zhang, American young gun Ann Li and Macedonian Danka Kovinic, whom the latter locs horns with Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round who is another great chance at this level.

Svitolina is deserving of heavy favouritisim in this event, though a quarter finals clash with Tauson would be entertaining, as would Sorribes Tormo and Riske. Giorgi is not without a shot on the hard courts too.

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