Tennis Announcer. Andy Taylor. Qatar Total Open 2018 | Qatar Tennis Federation
Tennis announcer Andy Taylor previews the Qualifying draw for the 2018 Qatar Total Open
Day 1 of Qualifying. Qatar Total Open 2018
Ground control will officially launch the first Premier-5 event of the WTA’s 2018 season this morning at 11:00, as qualifying begins for the Qatar Total Open. The top-16 seeded qualifiers include American sweetheart Cici Bellis, now the World #48, who fell to Shuai Zheng in a tough 3-setter during the final round of qualifying last year.
World #51 Noami Osaka also landed in this year’s qualifying draw, as did 2011 Qatar Total Open Champion Vera Zvonareva, who’s currently ranked outside the top-150. With Vera’s participation, the tournament features 15 former Qatar Total Open singles and doubles champions, many of whom have won multiple Doha titles. The total comes to 16 former champions, if you include Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez’s doubles victory at the WTA Finals in Doha back in 2009. Here’s the full list of former champions.
A Deep Field of Qualifying Talent
Other notable qualifying contenders this year include 2010 French Open champion and 2005 Doha Doubles champion Francesca Schiavone, still battling on tour at 37-years-old. Su-Wie Hsieh won the doubles title in 2015 with Shuai Peng. Last month, she upset Garbine Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the Round of 16 at the Australian Open, where she took Angelique Kerber to a deciding set. Andrea Petkovic reached the Doha Semifinals in 2016; She’ll face Xinyun Han in the final qualifying match on Court 1 Saturday evening.
Qualifying wild cards include Qatar’s Mubaraka Al-Naimi, who is just 16-years-old. She’ll face Bellis, who at 15-years-old back in 2014, won American hearts at HER home event, defeating Dominika Cibulkova to reach Round-2 of the US Open. German Sabine Lisicki and World #247 Anastasiya Vasylyeva of Ukraine also picked-up wild cards for this year’s event.
The Qatar Total Open 2018 Qualifiers
[01] Cici Bellis (Rank 48)
[02] Naomi Osaka (Rank 51)
[03] Marketa Vondrousova (Rank 54)
[04] Su-Wei Hsieh (Rank 71)
[05] Christina McHale (Rank 72)
[06] Kateryna Bondarenko (Rank 80)
[07] Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rank 85)
[08] Monica Niculescu (Rank 92)
[09] Francesca Schiavone (Rank 93)
[10] Oceane Dodin (Rank 95)
[11] Ying-Ying Duan (Rank 105)
[12] Andrea Petkovic (Rank 106)
[13] Sara Sorribes Tormo (Rank 107)
[14] Bernarda Pera (Rank 113)
[15] Jana Fett (Rank 115)
[16] Danka Kovinic (Rank 122)
17) Naomi Broady (Rank 126)
18) Xinyun Han (Rank 127)
19) Barbora Krejcikova (Rank 128)
20) Arina Rodionova (Rank 133)
21) Risa Ozaki (Rank 136)
22) Tereza Martincova (Rank 143)
23) Sofya Zhuk (Rank 146)
24) Anna Blinkova (Rank 153)
25) Jing-Jing Lu (Rank 160)
26) Vera Zvonareva (Rank 169)
27) Sesil Karatantcheva (Rank 201)
28) Michaela Honcova (Rank 262)
29) Kristina Kucova (Rank 297)
30) Sabine Lisicki (Rank 174) Wild Card
31) Anastasiya Vasylyeva (Rank 247) Wild Card
32) Mubaraka Al-Naimi (Unranked) Wild Card
The Qualifying Draw and Saturday’s Schedule
Former Doha Champions at the Qatar Total Open 2018
Racquel Atawo
2015 Doubles Champion
Hao-Ching Chan
2016 Doubles Champion
Latisha Chan
2016 Doubles Champion
Simona Halep
2014 Singles Champion
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez
2009 WTA Finals Doubles Champion
Kveta Peschke
2008 and 2011 Doubles Champion
Karolina Pliskova
2017 Singles Champion
Lucie Safarova
2015 Singles Champion
Olga Savchuk
2017 Doubles Champion
Francesca Schiavone
2005 Doubles Champion
Maria Sharapova
2005 and 2008 Singles Champion
Katarina Srebotnik
2011 and 2017 Doubles Champion
Su-Wei Hseih
2014 Doubles Champion
Carla Suarerz Navarro
2016 Singles Champion
Vera Zvonareva
2011 Singles Champion
