While the men take a week off before Davis Cup action begins next weekend, 10 of the world’s top 20 WTA players are in action in Paris and Pattaya City.  The line-up for the Open GDF Suez indoors event in Paris is especially good and there is full coverage on TennisTV from Monday.  Let’s take a look at both draws.

WTA Paris:

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber and Sara Errani are the headline acts in Paris this year and all four players have byes into the second round.  Sharapova is the number one seed and will play either Daniela Hantuchova or Marina Erakovic in the second round.  Yesterday, she tweeted a picture from Centre Court with Sugarpova branding in the background, which pretty much explains why she has decided to play this tournament.  Therefore, I question how committed she will be to actually winning the event.  Sharapova is projected to meet Kirsten Flipkens in the quarter-finals, who faces a tough opener against the defending champion, Mona Barthel.

The second quarter features Angelique Kerber and Carla Suarez Navarro.  Kerber won this event in 2012, beating Marion Bartoli in a thrilling three set final to win her first WTA title.  Her first match will be against Klara Zakopalova or Caroline Garcia.  In one of the best first round matches featuring two players who have had some great matches before, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Francesca Schiavone will meet with the winner likely to meet Suarez Navarro in the second round.  The third quarter features three Italian players with Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani seeded to meet in the quarter-finals.  Both have struggled in singles at the start of 2014 and will be vulnerable.  Watch out for Stefanie Voegele in this section, who made back-to-back semi-finals indoors in Linz and Luxembourg at the end of last year.  She is my tip to make the semi-finals in Paris.

The final quarter features the most attractive potential quarter-final match-up between Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep.  Kvitova suffered a surprising first round exit in Melbourne having played some encouraging tennis in Sydney and at the Hopman Cup.  She won this event in 2011 and loves indoor courts.  She will meet either Magdalena Rybarikova or Alize Cornet in the second round.  Halep, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final in Melbourne last week, was dominating at these types of events in the latter half of 2013.  She takes on Kristina Mladenovic in the first round.  Halep and Kvitova met in the final of New Haven last year where Halep dominated to win 6-2 6-2.  If they did meet, I would probably back Petra indoors.

1st Round Predictions: Hantuchova to beat Erakovic in 3 sets, Barthel to beat Flipkens in 2 tight sets, Pavlyuchenkova to beat Schiavone in 3 sets, Vinci to beat Svitolina in 2 sets, Halep to beat Mladenovic in 2 sets, Petkovic to beat Jovanovski in 3 sets and Cornet to beat Rybarikova in 2 sets

Moo’s Final Prediction: Kvitova d. Kerber

WTA Pattaya City:

Sabine Lisicki

Pattaya City is one of those events that I would be surprised if it didn’t throw out a surprise winner.  Sabine Lisicki is the top seed returning to the tournament where she reached the final last year.  She lost out to Maria Kirilenko in a topsy-turver three setter and will be hopeful of going one step better this week.  Her first round match will be against Donna Vekic.  The 16-year-old Croatian made a name for herself in reaching the final at the International event in Birmingham last year.  Since then, she has struggled to replicate those results and lost out too Lisicki in Luxembourg at the end of last year.

Ekaterina Makarova and Garbine Muguruza headline the second section of the draw.  This is the first tournament that Muguruza finds herself as a seed and she should be high on confidence.  I am surprised to see her playing though after such a heavy schedule through Australia.  She takes on Kimiko Date-Krumm in what should be a fun first round match.  Makarova opens against a qualifier before potentially meeting fellow compatriot, Vera Zvonareva in the second round.  Zvonareva should fancy her chances of claiming a first win on her comeback from injury as she takes on fellow wildcard and world number 363, Peangtarn Plipuech.

The third quarter features Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sorana Cirstea.  Mattek-Sands has started the season brightly and enjoyed a win over Agnieszka Radwanska in Sydney before she succumbed to injury.  She plays Karoline Pliskova in the first round, who she last played in the final of Kuala Lumpur in 2013.  Mattek-Sands won the first set, 6-1, but was unable to close the match out as Pliskova went on to win her first WTA title.  Cirstea, who hasn’t won a match this year, plays Anna Schmiedlova in the first round.  Alison Riske, who plays Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round, is my tip to go far in this draw.

The final quarter features two out-of-form Russians, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Vesnina.  Kuznetsova hasn’t won a match this year and takes on the dangerous Zhang Shuai in round one.  Vesnina has been thwarted with injury, which is a real shame considering she was defending a large chunk of ranking points in Australia.  If she can get past Vania King in the first round, she should do well here.

1st Round Predictions: Lisicki to beat Vekic in 2 sets, Zvonareva to beat Pliupech in 2 sets, Muguruza to beat Date-Krumm in 2 sets, Mattek-Sands to beat Pliskova in 2 sets, Riske to beat Medina Garrigues in 2 sets, Cirstea to beat Schmiedlova in 3 sets, Kumkhum to beat Goerges in 3 sets and Zhang to beat Kuznetsova in 3 sets

Moo’s Final Predictions:  Lisicki d. Riske