British No.1 and tournament second seed Johanna Konta will start her Aegon Open Nottingham campaign against American Victoria Duval.
Konta, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year, could meet Hucknall’s Freya Christie in the second round, should the wildcard get the better of world No. 85 Saisai Zheng in her opening match.
Christie, who will be making her WTA main draw debut in her home city, was part of the draw ceremony in Nottingham city centre, hosted by Robin Hood, and attended by The Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Jackie Morris.
The 18-year-old said: “It was a lot of fun to get everyone involved and good I could help out. It’s been quite a few good days settling in before the tournament and I’m just really excited.”
Sixth seed Heather Watson, playing in Nottingham for the first time in four years, faces Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova first up, while Laura Robson, another wild card recipient, has been given a tricky opener against last year’s champion Ana Konjuh.
Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki faces an exciting opener against Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay, who became the first woman from her country to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam in last week’s French Open. They have been drawn in the same half as Konta and in the same quarter as Great Britain’s Naomi Broady, who takes on Su-Wei Hsieh in the first round, ranked just one place below the Stockport star.
Top seed Karolina Pliskova takes on Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in round one, and could meet her twin sister Kristyna in the second round.
On the prospect of facing her sister, Czech star Pliskova, who was also present for the draw ceremony, said: “I was praying that we don’t play each other in the first round, which didn’t happen. We will see how things go and what is important is the first round for the both of us.”
First round matches get underway on Monday.
While the draw was taking place, Britain’s Tara Moore reached the second round of qualifying following a 4-6 6-2 6-1 win over Zhaoxuan Yang, and will play Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva on Sunday in a bid to go within one victory of the main draw.
Leicestershire’s Katie Boulter is also through to the second round of qualifying after battling back to beat Renata Voracova, ranked 361 places higher than her in the world, 1-6 6-3 7-6(4).
However, there was no success for Britain’s Lisa Whybourn and Eden Silva, who both lost in straight sets.
Fans can watch action at the Aegon Open Nottingham for as little as £5. Tickets are still available. Please visit the LTA website for more details