Sorana Kirstea was unlucky during the draw for the WTA 1000 tournament in Doha. If she gets past the Grand Slam champion in the first round, the Romanian will face the leader of the world ranking.

Sorana KirsteaPhoto: Charles Krupa/AP/Profimedia

Sorana Kirstea, match with Sloane Stephens in the first round of the WTA Doha

Thus, Kersta (26 WTA) will be defeated by Sloane Stephens (39 WTA / 2017 US Open champion) in the first round. They met twice: the Romanian won in Dubai-2013 (5-7, 6-3, 6-2), and the American won at Roland Garros-2022 (3-6, 6-2, 6-0).

If Sorana wins, she will play in the second round with Iga Sviatek, the athlete who occupies the first place in the WTA hierarchy and the owner of four Grand Slam titles.

We will remind, Sorana Kirstya reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in Abu Dhabi, the stage of the competition in which she was clearly defeated by Darya Kasatkinascore 6-2, 6-0.

Sorana Cîrstea, virtual circuit from WTA Doha

Round 1: Sloane Stevens

II round: Iga Svyatek

The best: Kateryna Aleksandrova

Quarters: Yelena Ostapenko / Beatrice Haddad Maia / Emma Radukanu / Victoria Azarenka

Semifinals: Ons Jaber / Maria Sakkari / Naomi Osaka / Karolina Pliskova / Barbora Krejcikova

Final: Coco Gauff / Olena Rybakina / Qinwen Zheng / Marketa Vondrousova.

Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2024 will be held from February 11 to 17. The tournament is held on clay in Doha, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and offers a total prize pool of $3,211,715. The champion of the title is Iga Sviatek (2022, 2023), and Simona Halep won in 2014.

The main favorites of WTA Doha: Iga Sviatek (1), Coco Gauff (2), Elena Rybakina (3), Ons Jaber (4), Qinwen Zheng (5), Marketa Vondrousova (6), Maria Sakkari (7), Yelena Ostapenko ( 8).