Third-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece was among the winners as the top four seeded singles players made their debuts in the 2023 Cymbiotika San Diego Open Wednesday at Barnes Tennis Center.
Sakkari advanced to the third round after Colombian qualifier Camila Osorio retired when she was trailing 6-3, 2-2.
Sakkari was playing for the first time since her first-round loss in the U.S. Open to Spaniard Rebeka Masarova Aug. 28. She dropped one spot in the rankings to ninth following the loss. Osorio is ranked 75th.
Osorio won qualifying matches Saturday and Sunday, then defeated fellow qualifier Magdalena Frech of Poland, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, Monday.
Each of the top four seeds received first-round byes, with three seeking to rebound from first-round losses at the U.S. Open.
Top-seeded Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam singles finalist, faced Russian Anastasia Potapova in the second match of the morning session at Barnes Stadium.
Second-seeded Caroline Garcia of France will face American Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, in the opening match of the night session at Barnes Stadium which is set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Fourth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, the 2021 French Open champion, will face Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina in the third match of the morning session at Barnes Stadium.
The 29-year-old Jabeur was seventh in the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings released Monday, two spots lower than the previous rankings released Aug. 28, after being eliminated in the fourth round of the U.S. Open by China’s Qinwen Xheng, 6-2, 6-4.
Jabeur had reached the final of the 2022 U.S. Open, losing to Iga Swiatek of Poland, 6-2, 7-6 (5). She reached the final at Wimbledon in both 2022 and 2023, losing to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in 2022 and to Markéta Vondrousová of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4, in July.
Potapova advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over American Alycia Parks on Monday with play halted at 3-3 of the third set because of rain, then resumed 2 hours and 15 minutes later.
The 27th-ranked Potapova lost to Clara Tauson of Denmark in a first-round match of the U.S. Open, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3.
Jabeur has faced Potapova once before, winning 6-4, 6-0 in 56 minutes in a quarterfinal of the 2021 Viking Classic Birmingham that Jabeur went on to win.
Garcia will be playing for the first time since losing to qualifier Yafan Wang, 6-4, 1-6, in a first-round match of the U.S. Open on Aug. 29. She announced her withdrawal from the doubles the following day on X, formerly known as Twitter, explaining, “I couldn’t attend to the press conference after my loss, the emotions were too overwhelming. My heart needs to be with my relatives to bid my grand-mother a last farewell.”
Garcia dropped three spots to 10th in the rankings following her first-round loss in the U.S. Open.
Stephens advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium in the opening match of the night session at Barnes Stadium on Tuesday.
“She’s obviously a great player, but I’m playing here in San Diego, in Southern California, with all my friends and family,” said Stephens, who was born in Plantation, Florida and now lives in nearby Fort Lauderdale. “It’s not very hard to get pumped up to come out and play. I’m just really pleased to be playing some good tennis and to come out with a win.”
Garcia has won four of seven matches against Stephens, but lost the last two, including the most recent matchup Aug. 15, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in a second-round match of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Krejcikova will be playing singles for the first time since a 6-4, 7-6 (3) loss to Italian Lucia Bronzetti in a first-round match of the U.S. Open on Aug. 29. The loss dropped the 27-year-old Krejcikova one spot in the rankings to 13th.
The 28th-ranked Kalinina defeated Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-3, in a two-hour, 31-minute first-round match that concluded at 12:05 a.m. Tuesday.
Krejcikova has won both previous matches against Kalinina, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, in a 2018 qualifying match for the French Open and 6-2, 6-3, in a third-round match of the Australian Open in January.
Wednesday’s singles winners are guaranteed at least $21,075 while the losers will receive $11,500.
In other matches Tuesday, American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, upset sixth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, 6-4, 6-4, and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, upset eighth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6), 7-5, in 2:46.
The $780,637 tournament will run through Saturday with the singles champion receiving $120,150.
City News Service contributed to this article.