'Quarantine Open' offers last chance for Australian Open preparation

The new WTA season kicked off with the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi. The first week of February brings two more tournaments, Gippsland Trophy and Yarra Valley Classic.

An extra tournament will occur between February 3-7 ahead of the Australian Open for those who have to serve 14-day quarantine without leaving the room. A total of 72 players remain in hard lockdown after three chartered flights to the Australian Open returned positive COVID-19 case.

The WTA 500 event will have a 28-player draw, without qualifications, and we should expect Andreescu, Bencic, Brady, Cirstea, Garcia Perez, Hercog, Jabeur, Kalashnikova, Kerber, Kontaveit, Kostyuk, Krejcikova, Kudermetova, Kuznetsova, Putintseva, Rybakina, Sakkari, Siniakova, Strycova and Watson. The prize money is the same at the other two events, and the finalists will get the opportunity to kick off the Australian Open on Tuesday.