2022 San Diego Open: Everything you need to know
The WTA San Diego Open will kickstart on October 11. It will be the first time the Southern California Open will be held in a WTA 500 format. Interestingly, it is also the first time that the WTA tour has organized a tour-level tournament in San Diego in the last nine years. Women's singles world number one Iga Swiatek will headline the hard-court event.
Here are the important dates
The San Diego Open features a 28-player singles draw which commences on October 11, while the qualifiers began on October 8. The tournament features 16 of the Top 20 ranked players and will conclude on October 16. Meanwhile, the men's event was held last month, with Brandon Nakashima defeating Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-4 to win the honor.
A look at the top seeds
Three-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek is the number-one seed for this event. The likes of Paula Badosa, Aryna Sabalenka, and Jessica Pegula complete the top four seeds. They have received byes for the second round. Meanwhile, number five seed Maria Sakkari has been handed a Wild Card. American Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia, and Daria Kasatkina follow suit.
Here's the prize money and points on offer
The champion will receive 470 points/$116,340 while the runner-up would get 305 points/$71,960. The semi-finalists and quarter-finalists will collect 185 points/$42,010 and 100 points/$20,505, respectively. Meanwhile, players exiting in the first and second rounds will get one point/$8,080 and 55 points/$11,185, respectively.
A look at the main draw
Locals Gauff and Pegula will be the hot favorites
World number six Jessica Pegula and number eight Coco Gauff will be competing in their first event post the US Open. Also, Pegula and Gauff would look for a concrete exhibition, given they are close to bagging a qualification in the WTA Finals. As of now, they are seated at the number three and four spots on the leaderboard, respectively.
Swiatek will eye a return to winning ways
Swiatek lately suffered a humbling 7-5, 6-7(4), 3-6 defeat to Barbora Krejcikova in the Ostrava Open final. Nonetheless, the seven-time titlist will look for a dominant display in what will be her last regular season tourney before the WTA Finals.
Garcia, Kasatkina seek WTA Finals qualification
Only Swiatek and Tunisian ace Ons Jabeur have qualified for the WTA Finals. In addition to Gauff and Pegula, the likes of Caroline Garcia, Daria Kasatkina, Aryna Sabalenka, and Veronika Kudermetova hold the remaining six qualifying positions heading into the WTA 500 event.
Sakkari, Badosa have a shot at the WTA Finals
The likes of Maria Sakkari (number nine), Paula Badosa (number 12), Madison Keys (number 13), Danielle Collins (number 16), Liudmilla Samsonova (number 19), and Elena Rybakina (number 22) have an outside chance at the WTA Finals if they garner some points in San Diego.
