Latvian tennis players Alena Ostapenko and Daria Semenistaya will participate in the main draw of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Australia, the organizers of the competition report, according to LETA.
Ostapenko is ranked 23rd in the world, while Semenistaya is ranked 101st, which was enough for her to start participating in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career without going through qualifying.
This year at the US Open in New York, Semenistaya qualified for the Grand Slam tournament on her 11th attempt but lost in the first round.
The last spot in the main draw was secured by the 103rd-ranked player in the world — Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean.
Two players from the top hundred — American Danielle Collins (WTA 64th) and Tunisian Ons Jabeur (WTA 76th) — did not register for the tournament. Three players — Czech Karolina Pliskova (WTA 1056th), Chinese Wang Yafan (WTA 277th), and Thai Mananchaya Savangkhaew (WTA 238th) — will start based on special rankings, while wildcards were given to Australian Emerson Jones (WTA 150th), American Elizabeth Mandlik (WTA 182nd), and Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas (WTA 283rd).
If Latvia's third-ranked player Anastasia Sevastova, who is ranked 199th in the world, participates in the qualifying rounds, she will need to get through three rounds.
The main part of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season on hard courts will take place from January 12 to February 1.
