PREVIEW NOTES: ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL ADELAIDE, AUS | FEBRUARY 22-27, 2021 | USD $565,530 WTA 500 Tournament Information: adelaideinternational.com.au | @AdelaideTennis | facebook.com/AdelaideInternationalTennis WTA Website: www.wtatennis.com | @WTA | facebook.com/wta WTA Communications: Catherine Sneddon ([email protected]), Chase Altieri ([email protected]) ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL – QUICK FACTS Main draw dates: February 22-27, 2021 Singles Final: Saturday, February 27, time 6pm Doubles Final: Saturday, February 27, time NB 7:30pm Venue: Memorial Drive Status: WTA 500 Staging: Tournament’s second year Draw sizes: 28 singles / 16 doubles / 24 singles qualifying Surface: Greenset Cushion / Outdoor Total prize money: USD $565,530 Tennis Ball: Dunlop AO RANK RANK SINGLES USD $ DOUBLES USD $ POINTS POINTS Winner 68,570 470 Winner 25,230 470 Runner-Up 51,000 305 Runner-Up 17,750 305 Semifinalist 32,400 185 Semifinalist 10,000 185 Quarterfinalist 15,500 100 Quarterfinalist 5,500 100 Round of 16 8,200 55 Round of 16 3,500 1 Round of 32 6,650 1 MAIN DRAW QUICK-HITS Seeds: Ashleigh Barty, Belinda Bencic, Johanna Konta, Elise Mertens, Iga Swiatek, Petra Martic, Yulia Putintseva, Qiang Wang Wildcards: Ajla Tomljanovic, Ashleigh Barty, Olivia Gadecki, Samantha Stosur Most career WTA singles titles: Samantha Stosur (9) Youngest singles player: Olivia Gadecki, 18 years old (April 24, 2002) Oldest singles player: Samantha Stosur, 36 years old (March 30, 1984) TOURNAMENT TALKING POINTS • Sixth tournament taking place in this year’s Australian Swing, following the Yara Valley Classic, the Gippsland Trophy, the Grampians Trophy, the Phillip Island Trophy and the Australian Open • Six of the Top 20 players in the world are in the draw, including World No.1 and Yarra Valley Classic champion Ashleigh Barty, who is the top seed, as well as Elise Mertens and Iga Swiatek, who each advanced to the Round of 16 at the 2021 Australian Open, seeded No.4 and No.5, respectively • Barty and Mertens will receive first-round byes, along with No.2 seed Belinda Bencic and No.3 seed Johanna Konta • Also in the draw is Australian wildcard Olivia Gadecki, who shocked No.4 Kenin during the opening round of last week’s Phillip Island Trophy; she takes on No.8 seed Qiang Wang Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 1 PREVIEW NOTES: ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL ADELAIDE, AUS | FEBRUARY 22-27, 2021 | USD $565,530 WTA 500 • One to Watch – One to Watch – Danielle Collins. Coming off an SF showing at the Phillip Island Trophy last week (l. eventual champion Kasatkina), the American has seen success in Australia before by reaching the SF at the 2019 Australian Open where she notched her first ever Grand Slam match wins. Collins is also known to have strong starts to the season: in 2020, she reached QF at Brisbane and SF at Adelaide in her first two events of the year and earned victories over Top 20 players like No.5 Svitolina, No.15 Kenin and No.7 Bencic. COUNTRY AND REGION BREAKDOWN Excluding qualifiers, a total of 13 countries and regions are represented in the main draw, led by the Australia with four players: Australia (4) Ajla Tomljanovic, Ashleigh Barty, Olivia Gadecki, Samantha Stosur Belgium (1) Elise Mertens China (2) Qiang Wang, Saisai Zheng Croatia (1) Petra Martic France (2) Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic Germany (1) Laura Siegemund Great Britain (1) Johanna Konta Kazakhstan (1) Yulia Putintseva Latvia (1) Anastasija Sevastova Poland (1) Iga Swiatek Russia (2) Anna Blinkova, Veronika Kudermetova Switzerland (2) Belinda Bencic, Jil Teichmann United States (2) Danielle Collins, Shelby Rogers 2021 WTA TOUR FINALS Week of Level Tournament Singles Final Doubles Final January 6 WTA 500 Abu Dhabi, UAE [4] Sabalenka d. Kudermetova 62 62 [5] Aoyama/Shibahara d. [8] Carter/Stefani 76(5) 64 January 31 WTA 500 Yarra Valley Classic [1] Barty d. [6] Muguruza 76(3) 64 [3] Aoyama/Shibahara d. Kalinskaya/Kuzmova 63 64 January 31 WTA 500 Gippsland Trophy [7] Mertens d. Kanepi 64 61 [1] Krejcikova/Siniakova d. [2] Chan/Chan 63 76(4) February 3 WTA 500 Grampians Trophy Li & [6] Kontaveit (FINAL NOT PLAYED) February 8 Grand Slam Australian Open [3] Osaka d. [22] Brady 64 63 [2] Sabalanka/Mertens d. [3] Krejcikova/Siniakova 62 63 February 13 WTA 250 Phillip Island Trophy Kasatkina d. [13] Bouzkova 46 62 62 Raina/Rakhimova d. Blinkova/Potapova 26 64 10-7 A SNAPSHOT OF LAST SEASON • Top 10 Debut (1): Sofia Kenin (at No.7 on February 3) • Fewest games dropped en route to a title: Jennifer Brady (24, Lexington) • Lowest-ranked player to triumph: Patricia Maria Tig (No.88, Istanbul) • Most titles (3): Simona Halep: 3 (Dubai - W; Prague - W; Rome - W); Aryna Sabalenka: 3 (Doha – W; Ostrava – W; Linz – W) • Maiden titles (4): Ekaterina Alexandrova (Shenzhen), Jennifer Brady (Lexington), Patricia Maria Tig (Istanbul), Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros) • Youngest title winner: Iga Swiatek, Roland Garros (19y 132d) • Oldest title winner: Serena Williams, Auckland (38y 108d) Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 2 PREVIEW NOTES: ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL ADELAIDE, AUS | FEBRUARY 22-27, 2021 | USD $565,530 WTA 500 • Aces leaders: Elena Rybakina – 193, Serena Williams – 178, Aryna Sabalenka – 165 • Most aces in a match (22): Alison Van Uytvanck (l. vs. Sofia Kenin 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 7-6(2) – Lyon, SF) • Match win leaders: Elise Mertens – 34, Elena Rybakina – 29, Aryna Sabalenka – 29, Sofia Kenin – 24 • Most three-set wins (11): Aryna Sabalenka (11-5 record) • Most doubles titles (4): Barbora Strycova / Hsieh Su-Wei (Brisbane, Dubai, Doha, Rome) • Best result by a qualifier (R-Up): Kung (Hua Hin), Fernandez (Acapulco), Bouchard (Istanbul) • Longest match: 3h 33m – Heather Watson d. Elise Mertens 6-7(5) 6-4 7-5 (Hobart, QF) • Shortest (completed) match: 39m – Ekaterina Alexandrova d. Storm Sanders 6-1 6-0 (Strasbourg, 1r) • Most Top 10 wins (3): Garbiñe Muguruza (No.3 Simona Halep, No.5 Elina Svitolina and No.10 Kiki Bertens – all at Australian Open); Jelena Ostapenko (No.7 Sofia Kenin in Fed Cup, No.8 Kiki Bertens at Strasbourg, No.4 Karolina Pliskova at Roland Garros); Maria Sakkari (No.5 Belinda Bencic at St. Petersburg, No.9 Serena Williams at Western & Southern Open, No.5 Elina Svitolina at Ostrava) Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube: www.youtube.com/WTA 3 2021 ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL – MATCH NOTES ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – FEB 22 – 27, 2021 – WTA 500 TOURNAMENT Tournament Information: www.adelaideinternational.com.au | @AdelaideTennis | facebook.com/AdelaideInternationalTennis WTA Information: www.wtatennis.com | @WTA | facebook.com/WTA WTA Communications: Catherine Sneddon ([email protected]), Chase Altieri ([email protected]) ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL – DAY ONE ANASTASIJA SEVASTOVA (LAT #53) vs. CAROLINE GARCIA (FRA #43) Series tied 1-1 Sevastova upset defending champion Garcia en route to Mallorca title in 2017… Winner faces No.4 seed Mertens in next round… Both players fell at the first hurdle at last week’s Phillip Island Trophy [WC] OLIVIA GADECKI (AUS #NR) vs. [8] WANG QIANG (CHN #34) First meeting Gadecki notched up a win over World No.4 Kenin last week… Wang is looking for just her second win of the season… Gadecki is youngest Australian in the draw SHELBY ROGERS (USA #57) vs. VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA (RUS #36) First meeting Rogers coming off impressive run to fourth round at Australian Open… Kudermetova opened 2021 season by reaching her first WTA final, at Abu Dhabi… Winner faces No.3 seed Konta in next round ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL – QUICK FACTS Main draw dates: February 22-27, 2021 Singles Final: Saturday, February 27, 6pm Doubles Final: Saturday, February 27, NB 7:30pm Venue: Memorial Drive Status: WTA 500 Staging: Tournament’s second year Draw sizes: 28 singles / 16 doubles Surface: Greenset Cushion / Outdoor Total prize money: USD $565,530 Tennis Ball: Dunlop AO RANK RANK SINGLES USD $ DOUBLES USD $ POINTS POINTS Winner 68,570 470 Winner 25,230 470 Runner-Up 51,000 305 Runner-Up 17,750 305 Semifinalist 32,400 185 Semifinalist 10,000 185 Quarterfinalist 15,500 100 Quarterfinalist 5,500 100 Round of 16 8,200 55 Round of 16 3,500 1 Round of 32 6,650 1 Follow WTA on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTA Facebook: www.facebook.com/WTA YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/WTA 1 2021 ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL – MATCH NOTES ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – FEB 22 – 27, 2021 – WTA 500 TOURNAMENT **All rankings and prize money accurate as of February 8, 2021** ANASTASIJA SEVASTOVA (LAT #53) VS. CAROLINE GARCIA (FRA #43) Head-to-head: Series tied 1-1 2017 MALLORCA GRASS O SF ANASTASIJA SEVASTOVA 6-4 6-2 2016 MALLORCA GRASS O F CAROLINE GARCIA 6-3 6-4 SEVASTOVA GARCIA Career Prize Money $7,281,875 Career Prize Money $10,732,601 Plays Right-handed Plays Right-handed Date of Birth (Age) Apr. 13, 1990 (30) Date of Birth (Age) Oct. 16, 1993 (27) Singles Titles 4 Singles Titles 7 Adelaide W-L (MD) 0-1 Adelaide W-L (MD) Tournament debut YTD / Career W-L (MD) 1-4 / 179-150 YTD / Career W-L (MD) 3-3 / 227-182 3-Set (YTD / Career) 0-2 / 57-51 3-Set (YTD / Career) 0-0 / 79-62 Tie-Break (YTD / Career) 0-0 / 40-39 Tie-Break (YTD / Career) 1-1 / 61-57 Hard Court (YTD / Career) 1-4 / 95-93 Hard Court (YTD / Career) 3-3 / 137-119 Top 10 W-L (YTD / Career) 0-0 / 10-24 Top 10 W-L (YTD / Career) 0-1 / 17-42 Top 20 W-L (YTD / Career) 0-0 / 19-47 Top 20 W-L (YTD / Career) 0-2 / 34-70 Coach Ronald Schmidt Coach Louis Paul Garcia SEVASTOVA: Making second appearance at Adelaide International, having fallen 1r last year (l.