The WTA grass season kicks into high gear this week in Berlin where seven of the Top 10 women in the world have gathered just two weeks before the start of Wimbledon.

In its third year as a grass event, both event champions are back including Liudmila Samsonova and defending winner Ons Jabeur. Plus the Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka leads the draw ahead of Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.

Coco Gauff and Petra Kvitova are also in the field.

The top seeds are 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 2 Elena Rybakina, 3 Caroline Garcia, 4 Ons Jabeur, 5 Coco Gauff, 6 Maria Sakkari, 7 Petra Kvitova and 8 Daria Kasatkina.

No. 1 Sabalenka is projected to meet 5 Gauff in the quarters, No. 3 Garcia – 7 Kvitova, No. 6 Sakkari – 4 Jabeur, and 8 seed Kasatkina – could face 2 Rybakina in the bottom quarter.

The semifinals are projected to see Aryna Sabalenka-Caroline Garcia and Elena Rybakina-Ons Jabeur.

The top seeded Sabalenka opens with former No. 2 Vera Zvonareva then gets the winner of Veronika Kudermetova-Qinwen Zheng.

The second seeded Rybakina opens with Polina Kudermetova then awaits the outcome of Donna Vekic-Varvara Gracheva.

Defending champion Ons Jabeur will face Wimbledon quarterfinalistJule Niemeier in the opening round.

Among a host of other notable first round matches we will see Ekaterina Alexandrova-Liudmila Samsonova, Katerina Siniakova-Coco Gauff, Karolina Pliskova-Petra Kvitova, Maria Sakkari-Alize Cornet, Bianca Andreescu-Marketa Vondrousova.

Former champions: Samsonova, Jabeur

Last year, (1) Ons Jabeur defeated (8) Belinda Bencic 6-3 2-1 RET.

RECENT BERLIN CHAMPIONS/FINALS
2022 Ons Jabeur d Belinda Bencic 6-3 2-1 RET
2021 Liudmila Samsonova d Belinda Bencic 1-6 6-1 6-3

TAGS: Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Cori Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Petra Kvitova, Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Qinwen Zheng, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Liudmila Samsonova, Katerina Siniakova, Cori Gauff, Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova, Maria Sakkari, Alize Cornet