CLAY court season is well underway and it is time for another combined 1000 event between the WTA and ATP Tours, with the world’s best players descending on Spain for the Madrid Open. The clay court event features 96 players in the women’s singles draw, with the 32 seeded players receiving a bye in the first round.

LAST YEAR

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated world number one Iga Swiatek in a battle of the top two players, claiming the title in a tough three-setter, 6-3 3-6 6-3. It as Sabalenka’s second title, having also won in 2021 where she knocked off the world number one then too, in Australian Ash Barty.

RUNNING HOT

It is hard to go past Wimbledon champion and top five star Elena Rybakina who is coming off a convincing title at Stuttgart. The Kazakh defeated Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the final 6-2 6-2, but importantly beat Swiatek in the semi-finals. In Kostyuk’s semi, the unseeded talent knocked off sixth seed Marketa Vondrousova – who had Sabalenka’s measure in the quarter finals – as well as world number three, Coco Gauff in the last eight.

2024 DRAW

Swiatek will face one of Xiyu Wang or Ana Bogdan in the second round with a couple of Grand Slam winners in her eighth in Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka who look likely to cross paths in the third round. Greek fifth seed Maria Sakkari and Brazilian 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia are also in the quarter while Rouen WTA 250 winner Sloane Stephens taking on Martina Trevisan in the opening round with Elise Mertens her likely Round of 64 opponent.

The second quarter of the draw has a lot of potential in just about any line. Third seed Coco Gauff is the top ranked player in the quarter, but she has Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska and former number one Naomi Osaka among potential opponents in the first few rounds. The out-of-form Ons Jabeur and unpredictable Jelena Ostapenko are the main players in the bottom of the quarter, but the two US Open opponents from a couple of years ago, Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez are among a star-studded group.

There is a fair bit of power in the third quarter, with fourth seed Rybakina looking to continue her winning streak, but a Stuttgart final rematch against Kostyuk in the third round is on the cards. Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng is also in the quarter, with a quartet of Russian seeds who could all be third round opponents in Daria Kasatkina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Kalinskaya.

Bottom quarter has some serious talent with reigning champion Sabalenka set for a potential rematch against the player who beat her in the quarter finals of Stuttgart, Czech Marketa Vondrousova in another quarter final. Among the other dangerous seeds are Jasmine Paolini and Danielle Collins, as well as Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia and Czech 22nd seed Barbora Krejcikova also ready to pounce. From the unseeded player Mirra Andreeva and Rouen runner-up Magda Linette are also in the quarter.

PREDICTION

The 2024 edition of the WTA 1000 event looms as a very open contest. Reigning champion Sabalenka will be dangerous on the clay, but the likes of Swiatek and Rybakina will be huge threats having already shown their potential on clay. Vondrousova is no stranger to huge results on the surface, while Gauff is always a massive chance.

Winner: Iga Swiatek (Poland)