Day 1 Schedule of Play - Monterrey Open 2020

It is Day 1 at the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey also known as the Monterrey Open with many star names aiming to gain form ahead of Indian Wells in a few short weeks, it is an integral part to the pre Sunshine Double calendar.

Zarina Diyas and Marie Bouzkova start proceedings off on the main court. Diyas reached the third round at the Australian Open losing out to Kiki Bertens; she is playing in her first action since then. She was due to play compatriot Yulia Putintseva; but that has now been cancelled with her taking on ninth seed Marie Bouzkova.

The latter is not in great form despite her seeding, she bowed out early in Acapulco as well as being eased past in the Australian Open by Naomi Osaka.

Then it is the turn of Yafan Wang against Lara Arruabarrena. Again another seed not on form, Wang has lost her last five matches; with her title defence in Acapulco being diminished by Wang Xiyu. This may see a sixth match lost with Arruabarrena coming through Madison Inglis and Caroline Dolehide already in qualifying without losing a set; it could be another early exit for Wang.

While the ATP matches take place in the Challenger event, there is also Kateryna Kozlova against eighth seed Rebecca Peterson; as well as an intriguing tie with Olga Govorstova and Caroline Dolehide.

Govortsova is on winning form winning an ITF event; but could be downed by the experience of the American who has already got two wins against her in qualifying and while Dolehide only came through as a lucky loser, it could be the American who edges this one.

Well-known American stars desperate for wins

Venus Williams has been struggling over the past year but is still a star name. She takes on Anna Karolina Schmiedlova who qualified without dropping a set in getting to the main draw; she has a previous victory over Williams on clay and despite the former being a class act, it could be another early exit.

Sloane Stephens is another American in bad form having lost her last five matches; it is getting that bad that she could be unseeded for the French Open, a place that holds happy memories for the American.

She takes on Emma Navarro though in a match that could gleam confidence; with Navarro having a 1-3 record so far this year and despite saying this in Acapulco about her first round opponent, Stephens will likely be the class apart.