DRAW Abierto GNP Seguros Monterrey Open 2025 including Emma Navarro, Leylah Fernandez, Diana Shnaider and Maria Sakkari v Donna Vekic

The Monterrey Open is set to begin in a day when participating players will be looking to give their one last shot at the preparations for the upcoming US Open. The fourth and the final Grand Slam of the year will officially get underway on August 24 in New York.

The tournament draw has been made, and some interesting matches will take place in the opening round. Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who has been awarded a wildcard entry into the competition, will face Donna Vekic. It will be the 11th meeting between the two players in professional tennis.

In the previous 10 meetings, Vekic had a clear advantage as she won on six occasions. However, this will be the first meeting between the two players in over a year. Their most recent meeting came in the round of 64 of the Madrid Open last year, where Sakkari came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2.

The game will present an opportunity for Sakkari, who is going through a difficult season overall. Her most recent outing was at the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in a hard-fought contest with a score of 7-6, 7-6. Before taking part in the Cincinnati Open, Sakkari, in an interview, stated that she felt like getting back to her best.

“I feel like I’m getting there with my game,” said Sakkari. “I’m a lot happier than I was before. That’s the most important thing. Good things are going to come. I’m very positive about it. It’s the first time that I can look you in the eyes and tell you that for sure. I’m convinced that good things are, for sure, going to come. It’s just going to take time. I don’t know how long, but I’m very happy with how things are going. It wasn’t easy, but I would say, overall, happiness is personally the key right now. I was just, like, ‘You know what? I live a great life. I’m so privileged and so grateful to be in tournaments like this. I’m not going to be playing for another 10 years, that’s for sure, so I better enjoy it now and just trust the process, which I do.”

The tournament’s top-seeded player will be America’s Emma Navarro. The 24-year-old’s participation in the competition is an interesting one as she skipped the US Open mixed doubles event where she was supposed to partner with men’s world number one Jannik Sinner. The reason behind Navarro’s decision seems to be Navarro’s recent struggles on the hard court. Ever since playing at Wimbledon, Navarro has featured in three events and won just one match while suffering three defeats. At the DC Open, Navarro lost to Greece’s Maria Sakkari in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 7-6. At the Canadian Open, Navarro’s journey ended in the third round as she lost to Dayana Yastremska in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-4. Navarro will face the winner of the match between Alycia Parks and a player from the qualifying round.

Another interesting match will be between the 2021 US Open runner-up, Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, and Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian. Fernandez will be coming into the match on the back of two disappointing campaigns at the Canadian and the Cincinnati Open, where she suffered first-round defeats. Those performances would have hurt Fernandez even more, considering before these competitions, she managed to lift her first title in two years at the DC Open, where she defeated Anna Kalinskaya in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-2. It will be the second meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the only previous meeting, which came in the round 64 of the Indian Wells earlier this year, Cristian came out on top with a score of 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.