New World No. 1 Wozniacki and Strong Field at WTA St. Pete; Preview

Simona Halep pulled out but you’ve got new world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova and former world No. 2 and comeback player Vera Zvonareva this week in Russia at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
ADHEREL
ST. PETERSBURG LADIES TROPHY
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia; surface: indoor hard

Seeds: Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko, Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic, Julia Goerges, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Elena Vesnina, Daria Kasatkina

Floaters: Mona Barthel, Alize Cornet, Dominika Cibulkova, Ekaterina Makarova, Timea Bacsindzky, (WC) Petra Kvitova, Irina-Camelia Begu, (WC) Vera Zvonareva, Kiki Bertens

Notes: Three Top 10ers in the field, including the new world No. 1 and Australian Open champion Wozniacki…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Interesting starts for (8) Kasatkina 2nd rd. vs. the Barthel-Cornet winner, (4) Mladenovic vs. the Sorana Cirstea-Cibulkova winner, (6) Pavlyuchenkova vs. Makarova, (3) Garcia vs. Bacsinszky making her 2018 debut, (7) Vesnina vs. (WC) Kvitova (winner to meet Begu), and (2) Ostapenko vs. the former world No. 2 (WC) Zvonareva vs. Bertens winner…Wildcards were awarded to Kvitova and Russians Anastasia Potapova, Vesnina and Zvonareva…Pulling out of the tournament were now-world No. 2 Simona Halep, former world No. 1 junior Ana Konjuh, Aussie Open semifinalist Elise Mertens, Anastasija Sevastova, Barbora Strycova, and Carla Suarez Navarro…Mladenovic beat Yulia Putintseva in last year’s final.