Ostrava Open: Swiatek leads entry list featuring Rybakina, Raducanu, Azarenka

Ostrava (Czech Republic), Sep 8 (IANS) World No 1 and two-time Roland Garros titlist Iga Swiatek is leading the entry list featuring six Grand Slam champions for the AGEL Open, a WTA 500 tournament in Ostrava, starting on October 3.Swiatek will be joined by freshly crowned Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, as well as two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu and former Roland Garros winners Jelena Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova.Krejcikova and two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova will lead the home contingent at the biggest Czech tournament of the season.Four more Top 10 players: defending champion Anett Kontaveit, last year's runner-up Maria Sakkari, Roland Garros semifinalist Daria Kasatkina and Paula Badosa, will be also in the mix.In 2021, Kontaveit captured her first WTA 500 title in Ostrava, the start of a still-active 20-match winning streak on indoor hard courts that saw the Estonian vault to her current World No 2. Last autumn, Kontaveit collected titles in Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca to seal her debut at the WTA Finals Guadalajara, where she was runner-up to Garbiñe Muguruza.Notably, the AGEL Open has been a fixture on the Hologic WTA Tour calendar since 2020, when Aryna Sabalenka defeated Azarenka to take the inaugural title.

--IANS avn/inj

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