Defending Brisbane International champion Aryna Sabalenka could have to beat three fellow Grand Slam champions if she wants to reign supreme once again at the WTA 500 event.<\/p>\n
World No 1 Sabalenka defeated surprise finalist Polina Kudermetova to lift the Brisbane title in 2025<\/a>, and has reached the final at the event for the past two years.<\/p>\n However, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion could have to navigate an incredibly challenging pathway if she wants to make it back-to-back titles at the famed event.<\/p>\n Like all 16 seeds in the draw, top seed Sabalenka<\/a> receives a bye in round one, and will start her campaign in round two against either Anna Bondar or Cristina Bucsa.<\/p>\n But, she could then face 14th seed and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko<\/a> in the third round, a rematch of the Stuttgart Open that Ostapenko won emphatically last April<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sabalenka is then projected to face fifth seed Madison Keys<\/a> in the quarter-final \u2014 a rematch of the Australian Open final won by the American almost twelve months ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n Should the Belarusian battle her way through to the semi-final, she is projected to face third seed Elena Rybakina<\/a> in the last four.<\/p>\n Rybakina memorably beat Sabalenka to win the WTA Finals last November<\/a>, but also thrashed the world No 1 in the Brisbane final back in 2024, dropping just three games.<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek gives her honest opinion on Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios\u2019 \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Will Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff have a better season in 2026? Ex-stars predict<\/a><\/p>\n The Kazakh will begin her campaign versus Ashlyn Krueger or Zhang Shuai, before a projected round three encounter versus 15th seed Paula Badosa.<\/p>\n She is then projected to face either seventh seed Ekaterina Alexandrova \u2014 the world No 10 \u2014 or 11th seed Karolina Muchova in the last eight.<\/p>\n The bottom half of the draw is headlined by second seed Amanda Anisimova<\/a>, who is projected to face Sabalenka in the final.<\/p>\n After a stunning 2025 season, Anisimova\u2019s 2026 campaign will begin with a second round clash against either home favourite Kimberly Birrell or Rebecca Sramkova.<\/p>\n The American is then projected to take on 16th seed Marta Kostyuk in round three, before a potential quarter-final versus sixth seed Mirra Andreeva<\/a> or ninth seed Linda Noskova.<\/p>\n Fourth seed and world No 6 Jessica Pegula<\/a> is also in the bottom half of the draw, and is projected to take on compatriot Anisimova in the semi-final.<\/p>\n Pegula is set to face Tereza Valentova or Anna Kalinskaya to start her campaign in Brisbane, before a potential third round clash versus 13th seed Leylah Fernandez.<\/p>\n She is then projected to face eighth seed Clara Tauson in the last eight, with 10th seed Liudmila Samsonova also a potential quarter-final opponent in this section.<\/p>\n Main draw action in Brisbane will begin on Sunday, January 4, and the final will take place on Sunday, January 11.<\/p>\n (1) Aryna Sabalenka vs (5) Madison Keys Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites<\/a> list for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: Predicting every Grand Slam singles champion of 2026: Sinner & Alcaraz dominant, Sabalenka & Swiatek success<\/a><\/p>\n The post WTA Brisbane International Draw: Sabalenka\u2019s tough pathway, Rybakina and Anisimova star<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Defending Brisbane International champion Aryna Sabalenka could have to beat three fellow Grand Slam champions if she wants to reign supreme once again at the WTA 500 event. World No 1 Sabalenka defeated surprise finalist Polina Kudermetova to lift the Brisbane title in 2025, and has reached the final at the event for the past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h2>\n
(WTA 500) Brisbane International Projected Q\/F<\/h2>\n
\n(3) Elena Rybakina vs (7) Ekaterina Alexandrova
\n(8) Clara Tauson vs (4) Jessica Pegula
\n(6) Mirra Andreeva vs (2) Amanda Anisimova<\/p>\n