By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday, July 30, 2022
The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose boasts a heavy hitting draw that includes the two most recent Grand Slam runner-ups – Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff – as well as Paula Badosa, Naomi Osaka, Maria Sakkari and Bianca Andreescu.
See the full draw here:
Here’s what we’ll be watching next week as the 500-level kicks off in Northern California.
Osaka returns!
Naomi Osaka will play her first competitive match since falling to Amanda Anisimova in the first-round at Roland-Garros. The four-time major champion will have to be ready on the quick, as she faces rising 19-year-old Qinwen Zheng of China in the first round.
Osaka, who suffered an Achilles injury this summer that kept her out of Wimbledon, is 12-5 on the season, but she has lost three of her last four. If she can get past Zheng she is slated to face either Coco Gauff, the No.7 seed, or Anhelina Kalinina in the second round.
Spanish Seeking Form
Garbine Muguruza has won just three of 12 matches since Doha. Strange, because she entered 2022 with high hopes, after claiming the title at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara last year. What has gone wrong for the two-time major champion? She’ll get a chance to right the ship this week in California, starting with a first-round matchup with the ever dangerous Camila Giorgi.
The other Spaniard in the draw, No.2-seeded Paula Badosa, opens with a bye and then will face either Alison Riske or a qualifier in round two. 2022 has been a mixed bag for Badosa. Her last semifinal was at Indian Wells, but she did reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon. She has won 30 of her last 42 matches on hard courts, overall.
Unseeded and Dangerous With only eight seeds in a 32-player draw, there are some talented unseeded players, starting with Bianca Andreescu, who faces Shelby Rogers in round one, with the winner facing top-seeded Maria Sakkari in the second round.
There is also Amanda Anisimova, fresh off her Wimbledon quarterfinal, Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won two titles on grass in June, and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Yes, you heard that right – Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who faces No.7-seeded Daria Kasatkina in the first round, is unseeded, and oh so dangerous.