Three players who have won Grand Slam tournaments are scheduled to make their singles debuts in the 2023 Cymbiotika San Diego Open Tuesday at Barnes Tennis Center.
American Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, will face Elise Mertens of Belgium in the opening match of the night session at Barnes Stadium which is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, will play sixth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the second match of the morning session at Barnes Stadium.
Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, will face eighth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the second match on Court 2 during the morning session, which is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.
The 24-player singles field includes a fourth winner of a Grand Slam tournament, fourth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Each of the top four seeds received byes into the second round.
Stephens has won two tournaments since winning the U.S. Open — the 2018 Miami Open and 2022 Abierto Akron Zapopan in Zapopan, Mexico.
Stephens was 36th in the Women's Tennis Association singles rankings released Monday, unchanged from the previous rankings released Aug. 28, despite a first-round three-set loss to 19th-seeded Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in the U.S. Open.
The 27-year-old Mertens is ranked 29th, rising three spots after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open, where she lost to eventual champion Coco Gauff, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
The 30-year-old Stephens, who was born in Plantation, Florida and now lives in nearby Fort Lauderdale, has split two matches with Mertens, both in 2018, losing in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, 7- 6 (8), 6-2, and winning in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, 6-3, 6-3.
The 24-year-old Kenin missed the majority of 2022 due to injury and began the year ranked 227th. She has risen to 93rd during a year she advanced to the third rounds of Wimbledon, the Miami Open and Italian Open. She lost to 13th-seeded Russian Daria Kastkina in a second-round match of the U.S. Open, 2- 6, 6-4, 6-4.
Kenin has won one tournament since winning the Australian Open — the 2020 Lyon Open.
Kenin was born in Moscow, moved to New York City as a baby and now lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. She has split two matches with the 26-year-old Kudermetova, winning a first-round match in the 2019 Australian Open, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, and losing a 6-2, 7-5, in a second-round match of the Qatar Total Open in February.
Ostapenko has won four tournaments since winning the 2017 French Open, including the Rothesay Classic Birmingham in June. She rose to 16th in the rankings Monday, her highest since being ranked 14th Feb. 13, after advancing to the U.S. Open quarterfinals, where she lost to Gauff, 6-0, 6-2.
The 26-year-old Ostapenko has a 2-5 record against the 19th-ranked, 28- year-old Alexandrova, including losing both matches in 2022.
Tuesday's singles winners are guaranteed at least $11,500 while the losers will receive $8,310.
Fifth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland was the highest-seeded singles player in action Monday, but was upset by Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in two hours, 17 minutes in the first match at Barnes Stadium in the night session.
Monday's play concluded at 12:05 a.m. Tuesday when Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine completed her 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic that took 2:31.
In the opening match of the morning session at Barnes Stadium, Russian Anastasia Potapova defeated American Alycia Parks, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, with play halted at 3-3 of the third set because of rain, then resumed 2:15 later.
"It was a very tough from the first point," said Potapova, who advanced to a second-round match Wednesday against top-seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam singles finalist. "The actual temperature didn't seem so hot, but it felt very hot, especially for a long match. I've played in a lot worst weather, so I enjoyed it."
Parks, who was born in Atlanta and lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida, had 16 double faults to eight for Potapova.
Potapova is 27th in the Women's Tennis Association singles rankings. Parks is ranked 46th.
This was the first meeting between the two 22-year-olds.
The $780,637 tournament will run through Saturday with the singles champion receiving $120,150.
