Halep to make Prague debut against Hercog

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - World No.2 Simona Halep will play her first WTA match in six months against Slovenia's Polona Hercog at the Prague Open.

In the second week of the WTA's return, Halep headlines a main draw, released in full on Saturday, that boasts six Top 30 players amongst its seeds. 

The Romanian's last tournament action saw her capture her 20th career WTA singles title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February, where she saved a match point against Ons Jabeur in the second round and rallied from a set down to beat Elena Rybakina in the final. 

The two-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1 will be making her tournament debut at the International-level event, which has been on the WTA calendar since 2015 after a five-year tenure as an ITF World Tennis Tour event.

No.2 seed Petra Martic is expected to anchor the bottom half of the draw after a semifinal showing in Palermo this week. Martic will open against Russia's Varvara Gracheva, while No.3 seed Elise Mertens returns to competition against Italy's Jasmine Paolini.

No.4 seed Dayana Yastremska, a quarterfinalist this week in Palermo, is slated to open against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, while the Russian duo of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova round out the Top 30 entries. 

Local interest will be carried by a total of five Czech players, headlined by No.7 seed Barbora Strycova, who will begin her tournament against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo, and doubles Grand Slam champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. 

In an intriguing all-Czech matchup, promising 15-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova will make her WTA main draw debut against Kristyna Pliskova, with the winner to advance against either Martic or Gracheva.

Former World No.5 and Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard is one of three wildcards to the main draw, alongside Fruhvirtova and Krejcikova, and will open against No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.

Four players will advance out of qualifying to the main draw, with the first round of action also beginning on Saturday.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Kaja Juvan, seeded No.6 and No.7 respectively, were among those who scored opening-round qualifying victories after strong efforts in Palermo, while former Top 30 player Lesia Tsurenko was also victorious over No.4 seed Océane Dodin.