A pair of former top-tenners will open proceedings on Pat Rafter Arena at the 2016 Brisbane International today when Slovak Dominika Cibulkova meets Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.
The 26-year-old Cibulkova started last season as the world No.10 having reached the 2014 Australian Open final but missed more than four months from February after undergoing surgery on her left Achilles tendon.
She started her 2015 season in Brisbane where she fell to Madison Keys in the opening round before going on to upset two-time former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka en route to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park, where she fell to eventual champion Serena Williams. It marked the second year in a row she had reached the last eight in the opening grand slam of the season.
“You know, the beginning of the year I always feel fresh. I always feel good from the off-season,” Cibulkova said after her upset of Azarenka in Melbourne last year.
“Obviously everybody is working really hard in the off-season, but that’s what gives me the confidence.”
In 2015, 26-year-old Wickmayer won her first title since 2010, claiming the Japan Women’s Open in Tokyo, beating Magda Linette in the final. She went on to land a second title for the season at the Carlsbad Classic in California.
At last year’s Australian Open, Wickmayer upset No.23 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No.14 seed Sara Errani to reach the fourth round for the first time in five years.
Currently at No.41 in the world, Wickmayer returns to Brisbane for the first time since 2009 where she lost in the opening round. Cibulkova, now ranked No.38, leads the pair’s head-to-head record 4-2 although they haven’t played since the Slovak triumphed in Acapulco in Mexico two years ago.
Another former top-tenner, Andrea Petkovic, returns to a familiar stomping ground for the second match on Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday. The German world No.24 takes on Brazilian world No.46 Teliana Pereira for the first time. The 30-year-old won her sixth WTA Tour title in Antwerp last season and reached semi-finals in Miami and Charleston.
Petkovic has only ever lost to opponents who have won the Brisbane International – falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters in 2009, Petra Kvitova in the 2011 final, eventual champion Kaia Kanepi in the 2012 quarterfinals, eventual champion Serena Williams in the 2013 Round of 16 and Kanepi again in the first round last year.
Pereira arrives in Brisbane after a breakthrough top-50 season in which she won her first two WTA titles at Bogota, Colombia and on home soil in Florianopolis. She became just the third Brazilian in the Open Era to win a WTA title.
The third match on Pat Rafter Arena features Frenchmen Lucas Pouille and Gilles Simon against Australian wildcards James Duckworth and Chris Guccione.