History…

Ostrava open returned to the WTA tour last year to make up for all the cancelled tournaments in China.  The Premier event was played in October in 2020 but now is pushed a month before, but still has stellar lineup.

Last year Sabalenka defeated Azarenka in straight sets to claim the singles title and with Elise Mertens claimed the doubles one as well.

Both players aren’t here to defend any points from that accomplishment.

Favourites/Top Seeds/Dark Horses

2 top 10 players, all 8 seeds within top 22 of the ranks and a last direct acceptance being Zhang as No.49 speaks volumes to the competition this wta 500 tournament has.

History…  This will be the 141-st edition of the tournament and the modern version of the US National Championship who was played for the first time in August 1881. The competition has been played on hard courts since 1978, but before those 3 years was played on Clay and between 1881 and 1974 on Grass.

Serena Williams has won the event 6 times with Margaret Court at 5.

Last year event was played without fans due to Covid-19 restrictions and Naomi Osaka came from a set and a break down to overcome the resistance from Victoria Azarenka and to claim her 2^nd US Open title.

Favourites/Top Seeds/Dark Horses….

1^st

After such horrendous 2020,it was kind of normal to be expected, that the 2021 Calendar for both ATP and WTA will be made available late and close to new season resuming. In the last couple of days it was finally revealed, but not the whole one – just the first 7 weeks of it

What we know for sure is that the Australian Open will indeed take place with a start date of 8^th of February

“This will be an historic Australian Open on so many levels,” Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said.