Second seed Italian Camila Giorgi will headline today’s opening of the Hobart International during which a dozen of world tennis’s top-50 ranked women will work to prove themselves ahead of the Australian Open.
Giorgi, world No.35, who was knocked out of the Brisbane International’s first round last week, is the favourite ahead of this afternoon’s meeting with Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas.
This morning the main-draw curtain raiser will feature Australian wildcard entry Maddison Inglis.
The Perth teenager, who has also been granted a wildcard to the Australian Open, faces Russian world No.61 Margarita Gasparyan.
In other matches seventh seed Alize Cornet, from France, takes on Czech contender Denisa Allertova before an all-German showdown between world No.45 Mona Barthel and Annika Beck.
Australia’s Jarmila Wolfe begins her campaign in Hobart partnering fellow Aussie Kimberly Birrell in a doubles match against Kateryna Bondarenko and Tatjana Maria.
Among the top names at the Hobart International this year are American Sloane Stephens, Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and Romania’s Monica Niculescu.
All eyes will be on former world No.5 Eugenie Bouchard, as the Canadian tries to climb the rankings after an injury absence.