Maria Sakkari headlines Bad Homburg field, Elina Svitolina and Caroline Wozniacki set for blockbuster opener

Maria Sakkari will be the only current top ten player in the field for the Bad Homburg Open next week.

Sakkari headlines the draw as the top seed for the second WTA 500 grass court event of the season.

The Greek No 1 entered Eastbourne last season over Bad Homburg but ended up pulling out of that tournament.

Sakkari doesn’t have any points to defend therefore and could make the most of her chance to push up the rankings with a deep run at the German event. Her first opponent will be Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who is no mug as evidenced by her progress to the semifinals at this week’s Rothesay Classic in Birmingham.

Bad Homburg will also see the seventh match of the rivalry between Elina Svitolina and former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

The two erstwhile top 10 players have been thrown together by the draw and will face each other in the first round at the Bad Homburg Tennis Club.

Both women returned to the WTA Tour last year as mothers and will face off for the second time since rejoining the elite circuit.

Svitolina is seeded seventh, as the current world No 21, while former rankings queen Caroline Wozniacki is a wildcard entry on the German lawns.

Svitolina will be engaged in WTA Tour action for the first time since losing in the fourth round of the French Open.

Meanwhile, Wozniacki lost her first match on grass in five years in Birmingham this week, going down in straight sets to experienced Belgian Elise Mertens.

Svitolina holds the lead in the all-time head-to-head between the two stars 5-1, including a 6-4, 6-3 win in Auckland in January, but the Bad Homburg encounter will be their first ever on grass.

Libema Open champion and world No 15 Liudmila Samsonova is seeded second and will open her campaign against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Rising American star Emma Navarro is seeded No 3 having been named in the US Olympic team this week.

Navarro will open her campaign against a qualifier and is a potential quarter-final opponent for Svitolina.

Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia is the fourth seed and will take on Anna Kalinskaya in the first round.

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Victoria Azarenka, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Mirra Andreeva round out the Bad Homburg seeds.

Seventeen-year-old Andreeva returns to the WTA Tour for the first time since her incredible exploits at Roland Garros, where she was the youngest semifinalist at the Slam in two decades.

Seeded eighth, Andreeva is drawn to face Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine in the first round.