18 WITHDRAWALS BEFORE QUALIFYING BEGAN

In the days before Qualifying, the first three Doha withdrawals included World #1 Naomi Osaka (injury), Madison Keys (playing Fed Cup in Asheville, NC) and Qiang Wang (injury) – which lifted three qualifiers to the main draw: Petra Martic, Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Strycova.

Then, just before Qualifying began, Madison’s Fed Cup teammates Danielle Collins and Sofia Kenin withdrew from Qualifying — as did 13 others. The mass exodus opened the door for 18 players ranked outside the top-90 to enter the Qualifying field – including doubles specialists Hao-Ching Chan and Abigail Spears. With the tournament unable to secure an 18th replacement – Ajla Tomljanovic, the top Qualifying seed, received a 1st-Round Bye.

HOW 5 LUCKY LOSER POSITIONS MATERIALIZED

During Qualifying, Petra Martic withdrew, opening-up the first Lucky Loser position in Doha’s main draw. And yes – as you learned above, Petra was one of three qualifiers lifted to the main draw during Doha’s early round of withdrawals. Let’s continue.

On Monday morning, the #8-seed Ashleigh Barty bailed. At the time, Australia’s top talent was still on-court in Asheville, NC – where she lifted her country to the Fed Cup World Group Semifinals. No amount of hustle or good-timing could have helped Ashleigh reach Doha in-time for her Round-1 match. Julia Görges picked up a seeding and was moved to Ashleigh’s spot in the draw, opening up the second Lucky Loser position.

Then, just before the start of play on Tuesday – Caroline Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia withdrew. Wozniacki sited viral illness. Garcia claimed injury. Two more Lucky Loser positions materialized.

Finally, before the start of play on Day-3, 2017 champion and the #2-seed Karolina Pliskova withdrew before her opening Round of 16 match with Elise Mertens. Because Pliskova had a Round-1 Bye, this opened-up a 5th Lucky Loser position in the draw.

WHO SECURED THE LUCKY LOSER POSITIONS?

Alison Riske and Doha resident Polona Hercog snatched-up the first two Lucky Loser positions after losing in the Final Round of Qualifying. Then on Tuesday, Sam Stosur stepped-in for the ailing Caroline Wozniacki.

The fourth Lucky Loser position would have gone to Liudmila Samsonova, however she had already arranged travel after her Qualifying loss to Karolina Muchova on Monday evening. So, when Garcia bailed after the start of play on Tuesday – Lara Arruabarrena, Samsonova’s opponent in Round-2 of Qualifying, was granted a spot in the main draw.

Finally, when the #2-seed Karolina Pliskova withdrew on Day-3, her twin sister Kristyna Pliskova filled the gap.

Elise Mertens won that match in a 2nd-set tiebreak, then earned three consecutive top-10 victories to capture the title.