​Sorana Kirstya learned the name of the opponent she will meet in the first round of the “WTA 1.000” tournament in Doha, according to the results of the draw that took place on Saturday.

Sorana Kirstea, match with Sofia Kenin in the first round of WTA Dubai

Sorana will play Sofia Kenin in her debut match.

The 2020 Australian Open champion, the American athlete has not impressed in recent seasons and is currently ranked 45th in the world.

Kenin has suffered four consecutive WTA tournament losses (against Saville, Sventek, Watson and Buzkova), with her only win this year coming in Hobart (against Minnen).

This will be the first official meeting between Kirstea and Kenin. They played in a World Tennis League exhibition tournament on December 23, 2023, with the American winning 6–4.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 18 to 24 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $3,211,715. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the reigning champion is Barbora Krejcikova.

The main favorites from Dubai: Iga Svyatek (1), Aryna Sabalenko (2), Coco Gauf (3), Olena Rybakina (4), Ons Jaber (5), Qinwen Zheng (6), Marketa Vondrousova (7), Maria Sakkari ( 8).