By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday February 3 2024
A year of comebacks on the WTA Tour continues into February, as former Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu continue to search for form at this week’s Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open. The WTA 500 tournament held its draw on Saturday, with Osaka and Raducanu each slotted into tricky positions.
Osaka will face qualifier Danielle Collins in her first round, and if she can manage a win she’ll set up a second-round showdown with Elena Rybakina, the top seed.
See the full Abu Dhabi draw here:
Qualifiers placed in Abu Dhabi, and it will be Osaka v Collins in round one: pic.twitter.com/Vre6k0zqKH
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) February 4, 2024
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who went 1-2 in Australian in January, including a first-round loss to Caroline Garcia at the Australian Open, plans to play a busy schedule in 2024.
Prior to last month she was off the WTA Tour for nearly 15 months. She birth to her baby Shai, in early July of last year.
Raducanu is in the lower half of the draw and will face Maria Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the opening round. If she can come through she’ll have a showdown with No.2-seeded Ons Jabeur in round two.
Raducanu missed the last eight months of the 2023 season due to surgeries on both wrists and one of her ankles in May.
The British star fell to Wang Yafan in three sets in the second round of the Australian Open but afterwards told reporters that she is feeling more confident than ever after entering the season with a clean bill of health.
21-year-old Raducanu enters the week ranked 295; 26-year-old Osaka carries a current ranking of 759.
Paula Badosa, on the mend after dealing with a back injury in 2024, is also in the draw. The former World No.2 will face Anhelina Kalinina in the opening round.
There are nine Top-20 players in the loaded 28-player draw at Abu Dhabi.
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