The biggest challenge after winning one’s maiden Grand Slam title is to live up to the burgeoning expectations in the very next tournament. The newly-crowned Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber will be facing a lot of pressure as she makes her much-awaited return to the WTA Tour at this week’s Qatar Total Open at Doha where she is the top seed.
It is an unfamiliar situation for the German World No. 2 but then so was her maiden appearance at a Slam final back in January in Melbourne. Despite not being accustomed to playing Slam finals, she was able to show tremendous grit and heart to carve out a three-set win over none other than the mighty Serena Williams, leaving the world stunned.
7 of the world’s top 10 playing in Doha
At Doha, the 28-year-old will be challenged by the likes of Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza who are the second, third and the fourth seeds. This is the 2016 season’s first Premier 5 WTA tournament and the eventual winner will get a whopping 900 points.
The field is thus stacked with 7 of the world’s top 10 and 14 of the world’s top 20 players. World No. 1 Serena Williams, though, is one of the biggest stars missing from the Qatar Open along with the sixth-ranked Maria Sharapova. While Serena is recuperating from influenza, Sharapova needs more time to recover fully from her left forearm injury.
Kerber’s only tennis activity since her big triumph in Australia was during the Fed Cup World Group first round action, where she went 1-1, winning against Timea Bacsinszky and losing to Belinda Bencic. She pulled out of last week’s WTA Dubai, citing a right thigh injury.
Kerber has Kvitova, Muguruza, Bencic in her half
Any kind of rustiness from Kerber has to be shed early if she wants to win this tournament where she reached the final in 2014. After starting against the 72nd ranked Chinese Saisai Zheng, she has Eugenie Bouchard or last week’s Dubai semi-finalist Elina Svitolina as her potential third round opponent.
The unpredictable Petra Kvitova, against whom Kerber is 3-4 in their head-to-head meetings, awaits her in the quarter-finals.
The road gets trickier as she can meet the St Petersburg runner-up Bencic again or the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza in the semi-finals.
Halep has Radwanska, Vinci, Suarez Navarro in her half
The other half of the draw, headed by 2014 Doha champion Halep, is equally packed. Defending champion Lucie Safarova returns to the Tour in this tournament after a bacterial infection forced her out of the Australian Open. There’s the in-form St Petersburg winner Roberta Vinci who can face the Czech as early as the third round.
Safarova’s biggest danger could be Australian Open semi-finalist Agnieszka Radwanska who has claimed four titles since last year’s US Open.
Halep’s quarter is no less tough. Her opening round opponent is Caroline Garcia who made it to the Dubai semi-finals last week and will be looking to continue her momentum. There’s Daria Gavrilova, Caroline Wozniacki as well as Yulia Putintseva, each of whom can make matters interesting.
The quarter-finals could present the Romanian with an opponent – Carla Suarez Navarro – whom Halep doesn’t enjoy playing. The eighth-seeded Spaniard is tied 5-5 with Halep and also won their last encounter. She reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in January and beating her might be an uphill task for the struggling Romanian.
Besides the above-mentioned players in Halep’s half, there’s another spirited youngster who can prove quite a handful for the big stars. The 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina broke into the top 50 last week after reaching the semi-finals of St Petersburg and can make life difficult for the experienced brigade with her array of fierce forehands and her remarkable athleticism.
Mirza/Hingis head the doubles draw
Meanwhile, the irrepressible World No. 1 duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis are the top seeds in the doubles draw. The Indo-Swiss pair who has won the last three Grand Slams seeks their fifth title of the season at Doha. They have already triumphed at Brisbane, Sydney, the Australian Open and St Petersburg in 2016.
