On May 1, Beijing time, the 2024 Saudi Grand Slam will officially kick off at the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah. On the first day of match, the men's and women's singles will compete in the first round of qualifying. In women's singles, 63 players will go through three rounds of qualifying rounds to determine 8 tickets to the main event, which can be described as a very cruel format. If you can pass 3 rounds in the main competition, you can already enter the top 8 zone.
What's even more cruel is that the Mukherjee sisters, the big dark horse of India, were divided into the same group when they both signed up for the singles competition for the first time.
In addition, in the 8 groups of the women's singles qualifying tournament, each group has at least 1 "Chinese" player, and there are as many as 14 "Chinese" in the entire qualifying area.
2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam Women's Singles Qualifying Tournament Draw
【1/8】Jian Tongjuan VS Arantesa Kossio Aceves, Marwa Al Hodabi VS Yelena Zaharia, Solomya Bratek VS Lilou Masat, Zhou Jingyi VS Huang Yihua
The favourites for this group: Chinese Taipei's Jian Tongjuan and Singapore's Zhou Jingyi, both of whom have the strength to face PK in the third round.
【Zone 2/8】Hana Matlova vs. Yadira Silva, Sutirta Mukherjee vs. Hana Arapovic, Wu Yonglin vs. Zhang Xuan, Aishka Mukherjee vs. Brett Illand
The favourites to qualify from this group: the Mukherjee sisters. At the Singapore Grand Slam, Mukherjee's sister once successfully broke through the qualifying round, and this time I don't know if my sister will have a chance. Mukherjee's younger sister is still the only one in the world, and if she can qualify for the main event, it will add a lot of variety to the competition.
[Zone 3/8] Margarita Pesocska vs. Yaszwaswini Golpard, Shulinsi vs. Sibel Altinkaya, Zorgia Picolin vs. Anna Cordina, Camille Lutz vs. Deborah Vivarelli
Favourites to qualify: Vivarelli. Vivarelli is also a player who has managed to make it past three qualifying rounds at the Singapore Grand Slam, and that experience is invaluable.
【Zone 4/8】Li Haoqing vs. Gaia Monfatini, Anna Hussey vs. Audrey Zarif, Hender Fati (first-round bye), Natalie Marchetti vs. Mariam Al Khodabi
The favorite to qualify in this group: Li Haoqing. Hong Kong, China's Olympic team, if they can't even make it through the qualifying round, is too happy and generous.
[Zone 5/8] Barbara Balazova vs Leah Lacavachi, Zuzana Vilgos vs Lucy Mobarek, Filipa Bogard vs Azana Girish Camas, Liao Kwai Wah vs Charlotte Lutz
The favourites to qualify from this group: Charlotte Lutz. The French team's Olympic squad should also have the quality to make it out of the qualifying round. But this group also hides a little bit of a well-known Indian monster Kamas, and I don't know if it will become a big dark horse again.
[6/8] Juliet Takahashi vs. Polina Vega, Rachel Moret vs. Sabina Surjan, Sarah Denut vs. Mattia Yegger, Brianna Burgos vs. Jenny Shao
The favourites for this group: Takahashi Juliet and Shao Jennifer. Sister Takahashi's family has a strong bloodline, and she has reached a point where she should make achievements. Shao Jenny is a bit of a female version of Pol, the older she gets, the more demonic she becomes, and she is too experienced. At the Singapore Grand Slam, it was she who drove Germany's Mittram to the ground.
【7/8】Ivana Malobabic vs. Wan Yuan, Genipa Savitabt vs. Wang Xinru, Lin Yinuo vs. Zheng Lixian, Catherine Wegshen vs. Josera Helmie
The favourite to qualify from this group: Genipa. As long as they can defeat the backhand rubber girl Wang Xinru of the Singapore team in the first round, then the third sister of Thailand has the strength to break out of this group.
【8/8】Sarah Hanford vs. Linda Lochlebi, He Tian Tian vs. Isabella Luprescu, Dora Madarac vs. Anna Wegsing, Melanie Diaz vs. Giorgina Porta
The favourites to qualify from this group: Madarac. As the main player of the World Table Tennis Championships, he has seen the world and fought in big battles, and such an advantage can be transformed into a huge qualifying strength.