Italians Vinci, Errani Head WTA Events in Malaysia, Mexico This Week

BMW MALAYSIAN OPEN
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Surface: hard
ADHEREL
Seeds: Roberta Vinci, Elina Svitolina, Sabine Lisicki, Annika Beck, Nao Hibino, Eugenie Bouchard, Hsieh Su-wei, Zheng Saisai

Floaters: Zarina Diyas

Notes: Vinci the lone Top 10er in the field…(4) Beck with a tricky opener vs. Diyas…Vinci took a wildcard, with additional main draw entries awarded to seeds Lisicki, Svitolina, and Hong Kong’s unseeded Zhang Ling…Appearance money must have been scant…Only four players in the Top 50, which would seem an opportunity for Bouchard to broaden her comeback attempt…Withdrawing from the event were Alison Riske, Anastasija Sevastova and Ajla Tomljanovic…Nether finalists return as Caroline Wozniacki topped Alexandra Dulgheru in last year’s championship; both are in Mexico this week…Hsieh (2012) is the lone former champ in the field.

ABIERTO MONTERREY AFIRME
Monterrey, Mexico; Surface: hard

Seeds: Sara Errani, Caroline Wozniacki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Johanna Konta, Caroline Garcia, Alison Van Uytvanck, Danka Kovinic, Timea Babos

Floaters: Dominika Cibulkova

Notes: No Top 15 players in the field…(1) Errani looking at the hot-handed Cibulkova 2nd rd., and Wozniacki can seemingly lose to anyone at any time, with a ranking that has plunged to No. 22…Wildcards went to Mexico’s Victoria Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias, and former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone…Pulling from the event were former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, Americans Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe, Italian Karin Knapp and Brit Laura Robson…Timea Bacsinszky topped Caroline Garcia in last year’s final…Returning former champs in the field are Pavlyuchenkova (2013,’11,’10) and Babos (2012).