World No.1 Iga Swiatek leads Australian Open entry list

World No1 Iga Swiatek leads the entry list for next years Australian Open which is based on the WTA rankings of the week beginning December 5Reigning Roland Garros and US Open champion Swiatek is one of 13 current or former Grand Slam winners who have entered the first major of 2023 which begins on January 16 The Pole who reached her first Australian Open semifinal this year will be bidding to add a fourth Grand Slam title to her haul so farThree former Australian Open champions are in the lineup Victoria Azarenka 201213 Naomi Osaka 2019 2021 and Sofia Kenin 2020 as well as three former Australian Open runnersup Petra Kvitova 2019 Garbine Muguruza 2020 and Danielle Collins 2022 This years champion Ashleigh Barty retired from professional tennis in March and will not defend her titleAlongside Swiatek Azarenka Osaka Kenin Kvitova and Muguruza the remaining roster of Grand Slam champions with direct entry comprises Jelena Ostapenko Barbora Krejcikova Elena Rybakina Sloane Stephens Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu Additionally seventime major winner Venus Williams will compete as a wild cardAlso readIga Swiatek Rafael Nadal crowned ITF World Champions 2022As per WTA nineteen of the worlds Top 20 are entered with the only exception being the provisionally suspended Simona HalepKenin currently ranked No240 and on the comeback trail after an injurystruck season is one of 11 players using a special ranking to enter the main draw The others include two former Grand Slam finalists Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Marketa Vondrousova as well as Karolina Muchova Nadia Podoroska Laura Siegemund Jaqueline Cristian Patricia Maria Tig Evgeniya Rodina Zheng Saisai and Kristina KucovaNo95ranked Ysaline Bonaventure is the last player to be directly accepted into the main draw In the event of withdrawals the next five players in would be Harriet Dart Kateryna Baindl Dayana Yastremska Alycia Parks and Anna Karolina SchmiedlovaThe qualifying entry list has also been released based on the rankings of December 19 with the last initial direct acceptance being World No219 Anastasia GasanovaSix players have used special rankings to enter the qualifying draw Eugenie Bouchard Zoe Hives Katarina Zavatska Barbara Haas Kathinka Von Deichmann and Arina Rodionova The top five alternates are Sophie Chang Robin Montgomery Rosa Vicens Mas Katherine Sebov and Ekaterine GorgodzeFive out of eight wild cards have been officially announced In addition to twotime runnerup Williams No110ranked Diane Parry has received the French Tennis Federations reciprocal wild cardThe 20yearold reached her careerhigh of No58 in October after a rookie tour season that included a maiden WTA semifinal in Granby and an upset of defending champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round of Roland GarrosLocal hopes Storm Hunter Olivia Gadecki and Talia Gibson have also received wild cards No241ranked Hunter 28 is also a Top 10 doubles player and was instrumental in Australias run to the Billie Jean King Cup final last monthGadecki 20 has compiled a 3718 pro record in 2022 while 18yearold Gibson rose from No1200 to No364 over the course of this yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever