While Liudmila Samsonova (WTA-18) and Canadian superstar Bianca Andreescu (former number four) met in the final last year, the two could face each other in the quarterfinals 12 months later. However, for a possible rematch, the pair will first have to get past some eager qualifiers.<\/p>
Samsonova, seeded first, proved too strong for former US Open champion Andreescu last year. The latter had to swallow the defeaton her birthday. This year, she returns as a wildcard player and is out for revenge.<\/p>
Two-time champion back<\/strong> Fourth-ranked Magda Linette of Poland, fifth-seeded Anastasia Potapova and seventh-ranked Lulu Sun are assigned to the top section of the playing schedule, with Samsonova. New Zealand lefty Sun (WTA-45), who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon as a qualifier last year, faces home-playing wildcard Anouck Vrancken Peeters (22) in the first round.<\/p> Orange presence<\/strong> There is also orange representation in the lower part of the tournament schedule in the person of Anouk Koevermans (21), who gets a try against former world number three Maria Sakkari. Belgian fans can rally behind third series head Elise Mertens – in her first round against Viktoriya Tomova – and Greet Minnen, who faces a tough task against former top-10 player and Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins from the United States.<\/p> Then there is another sister act to enjoy. Former Lib\u00e9ma Open finalist and former world number 9 Veronika Kudermetova (28) starts her campaign against her six-year younger sister Polina (WTA-58). Earlier this year, the experienced Veronika won on clay court in Madrid.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While Liudmila Samsonova (WTA-18) and Canadian superstar Bianca Andreescu (former number four) met in the final last year, the two could face each other in the quarterfinals 12 months later. However, for a possible rematch, the pair will first have to get past some eager qualifiers.Samsonova, seeded first, proved too strong for former US Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20306\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=20306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20306\/revisions\/"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20309,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20306\/revisions\/20309\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20301\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=20306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=20306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libema-open.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=20306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Besides Samsonova, second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova (WTA-20) is also a former champion returning to the Brabant grass. In fact, the 30-year-old won the tournament twice in a row, in 2022 and 2023, and has added another WTA trophy to her trophy cabinet this year. She too starts against a qualifier and plays in the second round against the winner of the duel between Katerina Siniakova (one of the best doubles players of all time) and the good-humoured Anna Blinkova (WTA-62).<\/p>
Arianne Hartono, also participating with a wildcard, can use Dutch support well in her clash with Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto (WTA-89). The top part of the playing schedule is also where Dutch number one Suzan Lamens has settled. The top-70 player made it to the main tournament on her own merits, meeting a qualifier. Last year in Rosmalen, Lamens recorded her first ever grass victory.<\/p>