Birmingham [UK], June 2 : The seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina have received wild cards for the Classic Birmingham, a WTA 250 event on grass which begins on June 19, as reported by WTA.com.
Former top 3 players Williams and Svitolina will continue their comebacks at Classic Birmingham this month.
Former World No.1 Williams is making a return to action on her beloved grass courts after being sidelined since January by a hamstring injury.
She will also compete in 's-Hertogenbosch the week prior to Birmingham. The seven-time Grand Slam champion is currently ranked No.701 and will make her second appearance in Birmingham, having previously reached the quarterfinals in 2019, as reported by WTA.com.
Former World No.3 Svitolina gave birth to daughter last October and returned from maternity leave two months ago.
The Ukrainian is currently ranked No. 192 after last week's victory in Strasbourg on the Hologic WTA Tour. At Roland Garros, where she has already advanced to the third round, she has now won six consecutive matches. The 2018 quarterfinal run by Svitolina in Birmingham was also her best performance of the season.
Barbora Krejcikova and Jelena Ostapenko, both previous Roland Garros champions, will also participate in Birmingham. Defending champion Beatriz Haddad Maia, emerging stars Linda Noskova and Alycia Parks, and former Wimbledon semifinals Barbora Strycova are among the other prominent names on the main-draw entry list. Meanwhile, Marketa Vondrousova and Hsieh Su-Wei are both on the list of qualifiers.
Birmingham has been a fixture of the WTA calendar since 1982; previous multiple champions include Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova.
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