Preview Picture: San Diego Draw

By Alberto Amalfi
© Tony Chang/Chang Photography

(July 31, 2010) The WTA Tour returns to San Diego but the draw is no day at the beach for top seeds.

The draw for the $700,000 Mercury Insurance Open was released today and offers a dreaded sense of deja vu for second-seeded Samantha Stosur, who could face Victoria Azarenka for the second straight tournament.

Azarenka, who will play in the Stanford final tomorrow, will face American Melanie Oudin in the opening round of San Diego. If she wins, Azarenka would take on French Open finalist Stosur again. Azarenka celebrated her 21st birthday in style today, blowing the top-seeded Stosur off the court in a 6-2, 6-3 rout to reach her third final of the year at the Bank of the West Classic.

Azarenka is now 4-0 lifetime against Stosur, winning all eight sets they've played including a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing in Miami last year.

Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic has a first-round bye and will play either hard-hitting Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai or Alisa Kleybanova in the second round. Rezai beat Jankovic, 7-5, 6-4, in the Madrid quarterfinals on red clay to avenge a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 loss in Dubai in February. Jankovic has beaten Kleybanova twice this year, in Fed Cup and at Indian Wells.

Another intriguing opening-round match pits two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, whose ranking has dropped to No. 21, will play eighth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer in the opening round.

In a first-round match of players trying to jump-start their summer seasons, wild card Ana Ivanovic plays seventh-seeded Shahar Peer. The match is a rematch of the Wimbledon first round, which Peer won 6-3, 6-4.