Draw analysis: Rybakina, Pegula lead the field in Adelaide

World No.4 Elena Rybakina and No.5 Jessica Pegula top the draw at the Adelaide International, the last WTA 500 stop before the first Slam of the season at the Australian Open. 

Here's how the draw breaks down:

Top half: Rybakina in form early

Top-seeded Rybakina has already enjoyed a strong start to her 2024 season, having marched through the draw at the Brisbane International to win her first title of the season. In Sunday's final, she dropped just three games to World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka.

Seeded No.1 in Adelaide, Rybakina has a bye through to the second round and will face either Jasmine Paolini or a qualifier. 

Update: Angelique Kerber, Ajla Tomljanovic and Anastasia Potapova have withdrawn from the tournament. They will be replaced by lucky losers.

Anchoring the top half of the draw along with Rybakina are No.3 seed Marketa Vondrousova, No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko, and No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova. Vondrousova, who went 1-1 for the Czech Republic at the United Cup in Perth, will open against a qualifier.

Ostapenko opened her season with a run to the quarterfinals in Brisbane, where she bowed out in a three-set thriller to Victoria Azarenka. She will face Romania's Sorana Cirstea in the first round. 

Bottom half: Pegula looking for confidence

No.2 seed Pegula left the United Cup hoping to find her form and confidence before Melbourne. The American looked shaky in her 1-1 performance in Perth, losing to Katie Boulter and defeating Ajla Tomljanovic. 

"To be honest, I don't feel great," Pegula said. "I feel like I'm not really great form right now, but I'm still finding ways. I still had chances the first match. I played well today. 

"I think my ball-striking is still good. It's just cleaning up some errors with loose points. When I have leads, when I'm up in games, second-serve returns, stuff like that I think is what frustrated me the last couple of matches because I feel like I was just giving away too many free points, which when you get in a good groove and you're not doing that, it gets frustrating when you're making mistakes and all that."

Pegula has a first-round bye and will face either Paula Badosa or a qualifier in the second round. She could face fifth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarterfinals.

No.4 seed Barbora Krejcikova gets her season underway in Adelaide. The Czech will face a qualifier in the first round.