SANTA PONSA, June 19, 2017

Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka is returning to competition for the first time since Roland Garros last year following the December birth of her son, Leo. The wild card entry from Belarus will headline Tuesday’s first round action at the WTA Mallorca Open facing Risa Ozaki of Japan and could face No.7 seed Ana Konjuh in the second round.

“Well I’ve never been here before and I heard it’s really nice. I knew it wasn’t going to rain here and I’ve always heard good things. I really fell in love with the island when I came here. I came here a little bit earlier, I had time to look around”, said the two-time Grand Slam champion.

Also playing her first match of 2017 in Mallorca is 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury to begin the season. The German opens her campaign against No.5 seed Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands.

2017 marks the second staging of the Mallorca Open. Both 2016 finalists have returned to the grass courts of the Balearic Island. French defending champion Caroline Garcia and last year’s runner-up Anastasija Sevastova, who started this year’s tournament with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 win over Elise Mertens on Monday.