Sabalenka, Mertens lead Linz field

LINZ, Austria - Aryna Sabalenka ended last season by winning two titles in Wuhan and Zhuhai, and the 22-year-old is halfway to repeating the feat in 2020 as she heads to the Upper Austria Ladies Linz having just won the J&T Banka Ostrava Open.

The former World No.9 rolled to her second title of the season - and first since the COVID-19 lockdown halted play back in March - with convincing wins over US Open semifinalist Jennifer Brady and countrywoman Victoria Azarenka, who was fresh off a runner-up finish in Flushing Meadows. 

Leading the field among the ladies who Linz, Sabalenka will kick off her campaign against Italian Jasmine Paolini, with Topseed Open presented by Bluegrass Orthopaedics finalist Jil Teichmann looming in her quarter.

No.3 seed Dayana Yastremska rounds out the top half of the draw, and looks to end the year on a high note after early defeats at the US Open and Roland Garros. Though she began her post-lockdown tour with a quarterfinal run at the 31st Palermo Ladies Open and a win over Venus Williams at the Western & Southern Open, she revealed a split from coach Sascha Bajin following the US Open and fell to Brady in her Ostrava opening round.

Sabalenka's doubles partner and US Open quarterfinalist Elise Mertens leads the bottom half of the draw; the Belgian paired with Sabalenka to help the Belarusian sweep both titles in Ostrava, and the pair could face off in the final. 

Mertens has enjoyed impressive results since the tour resumed, having snapped Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin's Grand Slam winning streak in New York to reach the last eight for a second straight year, ultimately bowing out to Azarenka. 

Opening against qualifier Anhelina Kalinina, Mertens could be in a marquee second round against either wildcard (and former World No.2) Vera Zvonareva or Ukrainian teen Marta Kostyuk, who made a long-awaited Top 100 debut last week.

Big-hitting Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova is the Belgian's projected semifinal opponent. The No.4 seed began 2020 in solid form, winning a maiden WTA title in Shenzhen and reaching the semifinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Since the resumption, she's won back-to-back matches just once: at Roland Garros, where she reached the third round. With Katerina Siniakova serving as her first round opponent, she could face French Open semifinalist Nadia Podoroska in the quarterfinals.

The No.6 seed in Linz, Podoroska will play her first match since Paris against Irina-Camelia Begu, with former Linz champion Camila Giorgi a possible second round opponent.

Click here to check out the full draw.