MATCH POINTS
No.2 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova won her only previous encounter with Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3 in the qualifying of the 2016 ITF 50K event in Andrézieux-Bouthéon.
2015 champion Irina-Camelia Begu is one of two former winners in the main draw, along with 2017 victor Jelena Ostapenko. Begu has not played No.4 seed Magda Linette since 2010, when the Romanian lost both of their meetings in German clay ITF events.
No.7 seed Margarita Gasparyan's only prior clash with Tatjana Maria was both dramatic and significant: in the second round of Tashkent last year, the Russian overturned a 0-4 final-set deficit to win 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(2), and went on to take her second career title in the Uzbek capital. Ranked World No.299 at the time, Gasparyan became the second lowest-ranked WTA champion since the inception of computer rankings, and the title spearheaded her return to the Top 100 following three knee surgeries.
No.8 seed Wang Yafan also won a dramatic comeback in her only previous encounter with qualifier Danielle Lao, taking their first-round tilt in last year's Anning 125K event 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4.
Ysaline Bonaventure and Jessica Pegula have split two prior meetings, both qualifying matches in 2016, with Bonaventure winning 6-2, 6-0 in Hobart and Pegula triumphing 6-1, 6-1 at Wimbledon.
Former World No.9 Timea Bacsinszky will seek to snap a six-match losing streak stretching back to the Bol 125K quarterfinals against wildcard Kristie Ahn in their first meeting today.
ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 12 noon)
CENTER
[Q] Greet MINNEN (BEL) vs [2] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS)
[WC] CHOI Ji-Hee (KOR) vs Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE)
[WC] Kristie AHN (USA) vs Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI)
Not before 3pm
[1] Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL) / Jelena OSTAPENKO (LAT) vs Hayley CARTER (USA) / Luisa STEFANI (BRA)
COURT 2
[7] Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS) vs Tatjana MARIA (GER)
Ysaline BONAVENTURE (BEL) vs Jessica PEGULA (USA)
[WC] KIM Dabin (KOR) / PARK Sohyun (KOR) vs [2] Cornelia LISTER (SWE) / Renata VORACOVA (CZE)
COURT 13
Irina-Camelia BEGU (ROU) vs [4] Magda LINETTE (POL)
[Q] Danielle LAO (USA) vs [8] WANG Yafan (CHN)
Not before 2pm
Greet MINNEN (BEL) / Alison VAN UYTVANCK (BEL) vs Anna DANILINA (KAZ) / Ulrikke EIKERI (NOR)