Wimbledon draw: Elena Rybakina to open title defence against Shelby Rogers; Venus Williams to play Svitolina

London [UK], June 30 : Defending champion Elena Rybakina has been handed a challenging first-week draw at the 2023 Wimbledon, while Venus Williams will meet Elina Svitolina in a marquee first round, the tournament organisers announced the draw on Friday.

The Kazakh No.3 seed will open against Shelby Rogers, who has notched seven Top 10 wins in her career. In the second round, she could face Alize Cornet, whose 25 triumphs over Top 10 opponents include an upset of Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon 2022 that snapped the World No.1's 37-match winning streak.

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Three of this year's grass-court champions are in Rybakina's quarter: Nottingham champion Katie Boulter, Birmingham champion Jelena Ostapenko, and Berlin champion Petra Kvitova. In the quarterfinals, Rybakina is expected to meet No.6 seed Ons Jabeur, a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final.

Swiatek, fresh off a successful Roland Garros championship defence, will face Zhu Lin in the first round, while No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka will face Panna Udvardy. Sabalenka might face a replay of the Roland Garros semifinals, where she fell to Karolina Muchova on match point in the last 16.

Thrilling first-round matches include a clash of wild cards between seven-time major champion Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina, who returned from maternity leave in April, and No.7 seed Coco Gauff versus former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who qualified this week.

Swiatek is expected to play No.7 seed Gauff in the quarterfinals, against whom she has yet to lost a set in seven matches. Gauff, who is now in the Eastbourne semifinals this week, faces some fascinating challenges. Her head-to-head with first-round opponent Kenin is even with one victory apiece, and the 2020 Australian Open winner is in good form, dropping just 14 games in three qualifying matches.

In the third round, Gauff might face the winner of the Williams/Svitolina tie, followed by either No.11 seed Daria Kasatkina or No.19 seed Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

4th seed Jessica Pegula enters the second quarter against a familiar foe: fellow American Lauren Davis, whom she has faced five times in total, winning the past three.

Former World No. 2 Anett Kontaveit, who is competing in her farewell tournament, has also been drawn in this quarter. In the first round, the Estonian will face qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini.

The third quarter, perhaps the most crowded area of the draw, puts last year's finalists, No.3 Rybakina and No.6 Jabeur, on track for a repeat as early as the quarterfinals. Neither of those have easy paths to get there.

This year, Australian Open winner Sabalenka has combined her fearsome power with consistent performance week in and week out. She has reached the quarterfinals of at least eight of her ten events in 2023, however she did lose in the second round against Kudermetova last week in Berlin.