Mirra Andreeva will be the top seed for Linz Open and she will face either a former US Open winner or a German veteran in her opening match at the Austrian tournament.
World No 10 Andreeva was not initially on the entry list, but she accepted a late wildcard and – as the highest-ranked player in the field – she went onto the first line of the draw sheet and earned a bye in the second round in the process.
The 18-year-old will face either 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens, who also entered after receiving a wildcard, or the 38-year-old Tatjana Maria in her first encounter.
If she gets past Stephens or Maria, Andreeva is projected to face fifth seed Sorana Cirstea in the quarter-final while fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko is a likely semi-final opponent.
Ostapenko, though, will have to get past either World No 87 Julia Grabher or world No 45 Alex Eala in the second round.
Rising star Eala, who is making her debut at the WTA 100 tournament, is playing in her first clay-court event of the season with her last tournament the Miami Open on the hard-courts in Florida where she reached the round of 16.
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The winner of the Ostapenko/Grabher/Eala match will likely face seventh seed Ann Li in the quarter-final. The American takes on Dayana Yastremska first up before a meeting with either Katie Boulter or Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Defending champion Ekaterina Alexandrova headlines the bottom section as the second seed and she will face either former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova or a qualifier in the second round.
A quarter-final encounter against eighth seed Sara Bejlek is on the cards, but the Czech faces Panna Udvardy first up and if she gets past the Hungarian, she will take on a qualifier in the second round.
If the seeds hold, then Alexandrova will meet third seed Liudmila Samsonova in the semi-final.
The Russian will meet either rising Austrian star Lili Tagger, who is just 18, or former world No 2 Paula Badosa in the second round, while she is projected to face sixth seed Jaqueline Cristian in the last eight.
Projected Quarter-Finals
Andreeva v Cirstea
Ostapenko v Li
Cristian v Samsonova
Bejlek v Alexandrova
The tournament has been hit hard by withdrawals with Grand Slam winners Barbora Krejcikova, Marketa Vondrousova and Emma Raducanu all pulling out before the draw was made.
Daria Kasatkina, Emma Navarro, Antonia Ruzic and Clara Tauson were the other players to withdraw on the eve of the WTA 500 event.
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